CHAPTER VIII

CAPTAIN ALEC RAISES HIS VOICE


Beaumaroy led the way into the parlor, Captain Alec following. "Well, I
thought your old friend didn't care to see strangers," he said,
continuing the conversation.

"He was tired and fretful to-night, so I got him to bed, and gave him a
soothing draught--one that our friend Dr. Arkroyd sent him. He went
off like a lamb, poor old boy. If we don't talk too loud we sha'n't
disturb him."

"I can tell you what I have to tell in a few minutes."

"Don't hurry." Beaumaroy was bringing the refreshment he had offered from
the sideboard. "I'm feeling lonely to-night, so I--" he smiled--"yielded
to the impulse to ask you to come in, Naylor. However, let's have the
story by all means."

The surprise--it might almost have been taken for alarm--which he had
shown at the first sight of Alec seemed to have given place to a gentle
and amiable weariness, which persisted through the recital of the
Captain's experiences--how his errand of courtesy, or gallantry, had led
to his being on the road across the heath so late at night, and of what
he had seen there.

"You copped them properly!" Beaumaroy remarked at the end, with a lazy