“You ask questions I cannot answer, captain,” replied Fairbrother. “And I would not answer them, if I could.”
“Very well, sir, then you must take the consequences,” said Douglas. “In my opinion, brigadier, this man ought to be shot.”
“Humph!” ejaculated Mackintosh. “We shall hear what General Forster says.
“I have nothing to fear from General Forster,” observed Fairbrother.
“Aha! say you so?” exclaimed the brigadier. “We shall see.”
They then left him in custody, and returned to the ballroom. Forster was still at supper with Mrs. Scarisbrick, and declined to have a private consultation with the brigadier.
“I will attend to business in the morning—not now,” he said.
“But we have discovered a spy,” observed Mackintosh, looking fixedly at Mrs. Scarisbrick; “and have found this letter upon him.”
“Give it me,” cried Mrs. Scarisbrick, snatching it from him. “I will read it to the general.”
“Madam,” cried the brigadier, sternly. “I insist that you place that letter in the general's own hands.”