"I apologise most sincerely, gentlemen," he repeated, "for my outburst just now. I had no right to inflict upon you a recital of my private grievances against the inhabitants of this wretched town. But I am a wild, excitable Irishman, whatever is in my mind has to come out. Please forgive me; I know my sister Norah never will." He looked appealingly at the girl who sat there, calm and self-possessed as always, with a slight expression of contempt upon her charming face. "I have already made excuses for you to Captain Murchison and Mr Pomfret," she said coldly. The visitors were very much embarrassed. What could they say to this dreadful person who seemed so utterly lacking in all the qualities of good breeding? Hugh remained silent, Pomfret opened his lips and murmured something about the whole affair being very regrettable. But these somewhat incoherent remarks were quite enough to restore Mr Burton to his normal state of easy buoyancy. He smiled affably. "So that is all over. Well, I am delighted to see you, and it will not be my fault if your first visit is your last. Now, I propose you come round and have a little bit of dinner with us soon, so that we may get to know each other better. Any night that you are at liberty will suit us. _We_ are not overwhelmed with invitations, as you can understand from what I have told you." If Murchison had been by himself, he would have politely shelved the invitation. Miss Burton, who took after her English mother, was quite decent and ladylike. The brother was insufferable. Vulgarity, so to speak, oozed from him. He was offensive even in his geniality. In short, he was impossible. But Pomfret took the wind out of his senior's sails. "Sorry we are quite full up this week, but hardly anything on next. Shall we say Monday?" Miss Burton took the matter out of her brother's hands by turning directly to Murchison. "Monday, of course, will suit us. Will it suit you?" she asked him pointedly. Taken by surprise, the unhappy young man could only mutter a reluctant affirmative. A few minutes later they left, pledged to partake of the Burtons' hospitality on the following Monday. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When they were safely outside, Murchison spoke severely to his brother officer. "You've let us in for a nice thing. If you had left it to me, I would have got out of that dinner somehow." "But I didn't want to get out of it," replied the unabashed junior. "We knew the brother was pretty bad all along. I don't know that on the whole he is much worse than we imagined. But she's a ripping girl. I want to see more of her." "You silly young ass," growled Murchison; "I believe you've fallen head over ears in love with her." And Pomfret, one of the most mercurial and light-hearted of subalterns, answered quite gravely: "I rather fancy I have. I've never met a girl who appealed to me in quite the same sort of way." CHAPTER THREE.