' And I left them.
"That's why I'm not married, boys. Where's my glass?"
"It is a very curious story," observed the colonel. "And who
were they all--the girl in blue--and the young man--and the ugly
servant--and Frederic?"
"Colonel," said Jack, with an air of deepest mystery, "you would
be astounded to hear."
We all pricked up our ears.
"But," he continued, "I am not at liberty to say."
We sank back in our chairs.
"Do you know?" asked the colonel, and Jack nodded solemnly.
"Out with it!" we cried.
"Impossible!" said Jack. "But I may tell you that the matter
engaged the attention of more than one of the Foreign Offices of
Europe."
"Good Heavens!" cried we in chorus, and Jack drank off his
whisky and water, rose to his feet, and put on his hat.
"Poor dear Mary!" said he, as he opened the door. "She never got
over it."
The colonel shouted after him:
"Then what did she marry Jenkyns of the Blues for?"
"Pique!" said Jack, and he shut the door.
III.
A CHANGE OF HEART.
It was common knowledge that Smugg was engaged to be married.
Familiarity had robbed the fact of some of its surprisingness,
but there remained a substratum of wonder, not removed even by
the sight of his betrothed's photograph and the information that
she was a distant relative who had been brought up with him from
infancy. The features and the explanation between them rescued
Smugg from the incongruity of a romance, but we united in the
opinion that the lady was ill-advised in preferring Smugg to
solitude.
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