* * * * *
When I arrived at Mr. Chiffinch's the next morning, I found him in a very grave mood. He did not rise as I came in, but nodded to me, only.
"Sit down, Mr. Mallock," said he. "This is a very serious affair."
"So I think," I said.
He waved that away.
"His Majesty hath heard every word of it, with embellishments. He is very angry indeed. Nothing but what you have done for him lately could have saved you; and even now I do not know—"
"Man," I said, "do not let us leave such talk as this. It is not I who am in question—"
"I think you will find that it is," he answered me, with a quick look.
I strove to be patient, and, even more, to appear so.
"Well," I said, "what have I done? I am come back from France: I hear my cousin is here; I go to see her; a fellow at the door is impertinent, and I chastise him for it. Then I go upstairs to my cousin's parlour—"