’I have not met him, and I would rather not.  I shall not pretend to offer you advice, for I have the habit of thinking your judgement can stand by itself.  We shall all find this affair a nuisance.  Nevil will pay through the nose.  We shall have the ridicule spattered on the family.  It would be a safer thing for him to invest his money on the Turf, and I shall advise his doing it if I come across him.

‘Perhaps the best course would be to telegraph for the marquise!’

This was from Cecil Baskelett.  He added a postscript: 

’Seriously, the “mad commander” has not an ace of a chance.  Grancey and I saw some Working Men (you have to write them in capitals, king and queen small); they were reading the Address on a board carried by a red-nosed man, and shrugging.  They are not such fools.

’By the way, I am informed Shrapnel has a young female relative living with him, said to be a sparkler.  I bet you, sir, she is not a Radical.  Do you take me?’

Rosamund Culling drove to the railway station on her way to Bevisham within an hour after Mr. Romfrey’s eyebrows had made acute play over this communication.

CHAPTER XII

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE INFAMOUS DR. SHRAPNEL

In the High street of the ancient and famous town and port of Bevisham, Rosamund met the military governor of a neighbouring fortress, General Sherwin, once colonel of her husband’s regiment in India; and by him, as it happened, she was assisted in finding the whereabout of the young Liberal candidate, without the degrading recourse of an application at the newspaper-office of his party.  The General was leisurely walking to a place of appointment to fetch his daughter home from a visit to an old school-friend, a Miss Jenny Denham, no other than a ward, or a niece, or an adoption of Dr. Shrapnel’s:  ‘A nice girl; a great favourite of mine,’ the General said.  Shrapnel he knew by reputation only as a wrong-headed politician; but he spoke of Miss Denham pleasantly two or three times, praising her accomplishments and her winning manners.  His hearer suspected that it might be done to dissociate the idea of her from the ruffling agitator.  ‘Is she pretty?’ was a question that sprang. from Rosamund’s intimate reflections.  The answer was, ‘Yes.’

‘Very pretty?’

‘I think very pretty,’ said the General.

‘Captivatingly?’

’Clara thinks she is perfect; she is tall and slim, and dresses well.  The girls were with a French Madam in Paris.  But, if you are interested about her, you can come on with me, and we shall meet them somewhere near the head of the street.  I don’t,’ the General hesitated and hummed—­ ‘I don’t call at Shrapnel’s.’

‘I have never heard her name before to-day,’ said Rosamund.

‘Exactly,’ said the General, crowing at the aimlessness of a woman’s curiosity.