"I hear," remarked another, "that he acted rather strangely at Mr.
Birtwell's last night."

Every ear pricked up at this.

"How?" "In what way?" "Tell us about it," came in quick response to
the speaker's words.

"I didn't get anything like a clear story. But there was some
trouble about his wife."

"About his wife?" Faces looked eagerly down and across the table.

"What about his wife?" came from half a dozen lips.

"He thought some one too intimate with her, I believe. A brother
officer, if I am not mistaken. Some old flame, perhaps. But I
couldn't learn any of the particulars."

"Ah! That accounts for their singular conduct this morning. Was
there much of a row?" This came from a thin-visaged young man with
eye-glasses and a sparse, whitish moustache.

"I didn't say anything about a row," was the rather sharp reply. "I
only said that I heard that the general had acted strangely, and
that there had been some trouble about his wife."

"What was the trouble?" asked two or three anxious voices--anxious
for some racy scandal.