"Did you hear the word Calcutta or India mentioned, Lechmere?"

"No, I did not, but I heard quite enough. Everyone knew that you
were going in a day or two, and that was enough for me after what I
had seen in the afternoon."

"You saw nothing in the afternoon," Captain Mallett said, angrily.
"The girl's father and mother were at home. We were all chatting
together until we came out. She came to the trap with me while they
stood at the open window. It was not more than a minute before I
drove off. I have not spoken to the girl half a dozen times since
she was a little child.

"Why, man, if everyone took such insane fancies in his head as you
do, no man would dare to speak to a woman at all.

"However," he went on in an altered voice, "this is not a time for
anger. You are very ill, Lechmere, but the doctor has not given you
up, and I trust that you will yet get round and will be able to
prove to your own satisfaction that, whatever has happened to this
poor girl, I, at least, am wholly innocent of it. But should you
not get over this hurt, I should not like you to go to your grave
believing that I had done you this great wrong. I speak to you as
to a dying man, and having no interest in deceiving you, and I
swear to you before Heaven that I know absolutely nothing of this.
I, too, may fall from a rebel shot before long, and I thank God
that I can meet you before Him as an innocent man in this matter.

"I must be going, for I see the doctor coming to fetch me. Goodbye,
lad, we may not meet again, though I trust we shall; but if not, I