with the peculiar tremor increasing, and a
cold, dank perspiration breaking out about his temples and in the palms
of his hands.

A few minutes after he was ushered into the handsomely-furnished rooms
which formed the lieutenant's quarters; and he felt a pang shoot through
him for the moment as the piano in one corner, and some music and a
flute upon the table, recalled his own rooms at Draycott's.

But his thoughts were back directly to his troubles, and he felt a kind
of momentary relief on finding that there was no one in the
sitting-room.

"I'll go and tell him you're here," said the man who had fetched him,
and he lifted a curtain, caught his foot against a fold, stumbled, and
drove his head with a crash against the panel of the door beyond. Then,
as the curtain fell behind him, Dick heard, in smothered tones:--

"I had you out of the ranks, Joe Todd, for my servant; I don't want a
battering-ram."

"Beg pardon, sir. Haxident."

"Accident! That's the third time you have done it within a week. Torn
the curtain?"

"No, sir; don't think so. Hurt my head."

"I don't believe it, Joe. A wooden door could not hurt your head! You
may have cracked the panel!"

"No, sir; all right, sir."

"Then take those clothes and brush them again. The trousers have
mud-splashes as high as the knees. And take those boots, too; I can't
wear them like that."

The man came out of the inner room with a portion of his master's
uniform under his arm and a pair of boots, swinging by the tags, one of
which badly-cleaned articles he dropped in trying to open the outer
door, the handle of which Dick turned for him, so that he could pass
out.

As Dick closed the door he was conscious of a rustling behind him, and
he turned smartly, to find himself face to face with the great
lieutenant, gorgeous now in shawl-pattern smoking-trousers and purple
velvet lounging-coat.

"Now for it!" he thought.

"And you might have been an officer," said the lieutenant, shaking his
head at Dick sadly, while all the blood in the lad's body seemed to run
to his heart.

"I--I beg your pardon, sir," faltered Dick, as he began to think that he
would have to get away again, and then recalled the fact that he could
not without being looked upon as a deserter.

"I said `And you might have been an officer.'"

"Yes," said Dick bitterly, and turning and speaking as he felt that he
was driven to bay.

"I'm glad you feel it," said the lieutenant, l