A dozen laughing suggestions were made, and then Rupert said gravely: 

“There was an unfounded imputation that I was interfering with the plans which his Majesty had formed for the marriage of a lady and gentleman of the court.”

Rupert spoke so gravely that his brother officers saw that any joking here would be ill timed; but sly winks were exchanged as Rupert, changing the subject, went on to recount his captivity at Lille.

The story of his escape was listened to eagerly, and then Rupert made a long pause, and coloured lightly.

“Several things of no importance then happened,” he said, “and as I was going through the streets of Blois—­”

“The streets of where?” Colonel Forbes asked, in astonishment.  “You escape from Lille, just on the frontier, what on earth were you doing down at Blois, a hundred miles south of Paris?”

Rupert paused again.

“I really cannot explain it, colonel.  I shall make a point of telling the duke, and if he considers that I acted wrongly, I must bear his displeasure; but the matter is of no real importance, and does not greatly concern my adventures.  Forgive me, if I do not feel justified in telling it.  All the rest is plain sailing.”

Again the narrative went on, and the surprise at hearing that Rupert had been confined at Loches, well known as a prison for dangerous political offenders, was only exceeded by that occasioned by the incidents of his escape therefrom.  Rupert carried on his story to the point of the escape from the French, which they had just witnessed.

There was a chorus of congratulations at his having gone safely through such great dangers; and Dillon remarked: 

“It appears to me that you have been wasting your time and your gifts most amazingly.  Here have you been absent just two years, and with the exception of a paltry marauder you do not seem to have slain a single Frenchman, till you broke that officer’s skull today.

“I think, my friends, that the least we can do is to pass a formal vote of censure upon our comrade for such a grievous waste of his natural advantages.  The only thing in his favour is, that he seems to have been giving up his whole attention to growing, and he has got so prodigiously broad and big that now he has again joined us he will be able to make up for the otherwise sinful loss of time.”

A chorus of laughter greeted Dillon’s proposal, and the merry group then broke up, and each went off to his duty.

Rupert’s first effort was to obtain such clothes as would enable him to appear in his place in the ranks without exciting laughter.  Hugh told him that all his clothes and effects were in store at Liege, but indeed it was questionable whether any would be of use to him.  He was not taller indeed than he was two years before, but he was broader, by some inches, than before.  From the quartermaster he obtained a pair of jack boots which had belonged to