CHAPTER XVIAt three o’clock or thereabouts, there was a knock at the door. We all “stared at each other with a wild surmise,” and then Colonel Bedford resolutely flung it open. I was sitting on a footstool beside Marion’s chair, in such a position that I could not see the stranger; who said in an oily, semi-cultured tone, “Good day, sir! I’m making a survey—”
“Step in,” said our old soldier. “Step right in, sir.”
“Oh, no, I shan’t bother you now, as I see you’re having a bit of a gathering,” said the unctuous voice. “I’ll call round la—”
At this point the Colonel took him firmly by the lapels of his coat. Alec said afterwards that he never saw astonishment spread over a face so quickly. The man’s mouth remained open in the middle of the word. The Colonel, a man of action who had been bo
