She put her arm over his shoulder, and touched the plaster on his neck gently with her finger. "There's one thing I don't doubt,"she said: "the Captain did _that!_"
Percy left her, laughing. At the front gate of the cottage he found Arthur Bervie in conversation with the same shabbily-dressed man-servant who had announced the Captain's visit to Charlotte.
"What has become of the other servant?" Bervie asked. "I mean the old man who has been with Mr. Bowmore for so many years.""He has left his situation, sir."
"Why?"
"As I understand, sir, he spoke disrespectfully to the master.""Oh! And how came the master to hear of _you?_""I advertised; and Mr. Bowmore answered my advertisement."Bervie looked hard at the man for a moment, and then joined Percy at the carriage door. The two gentlemen started for London.
"What do you think of Mr. Bowmore's new servant?" asked the Captain as they drove away from the cottage. "I don't like the look of the fellow.""I didn't particularly notice him," Percy a nswered.
There was a pause. When the conversation was resumed, it turned on common-place subjects. The Captain looked uneasily out of the carriage window. Percy looked uneasily at the Captain.