n to retire.
I will therefore ask you to give me your word that the matter shall
not be alluded to, outside the regiment. There is no fear of any of
Sanders' regiment hearing anything about it, as none of them were
present last night.

"Upon further consideration, I think that it would be better to
summon all the officers of the regiment, at once, and to impress
upon them the necessity for keeping silence on the matter."

Five minutes later the officers' call sounded and, when all were
assembled in the anteroom, the colonel repeated to them what he had
said to Lisle and his companions; and obtained an undertaking from
them, individually, that they would maintain an absolute silence on
the matter.

The affair greatly added to the estimation in which Lisle was held
in the regiment. His quickness in detecting the swindle, and the
steps he had taken to obtain proof of his suspicions, showed that
he possessed other qualities besides pluck and determination.

It is to be feared that some, at least, of the married officers
either did not regard the promise of silence as affecting their
wives, or had told them what had taken place before they were
requested to abstain from alluding to it; for three or four of the
ladies made sly allusions, when talking to Lisle, which showed that
they were cognizant of what had taken place.

"Well, Mr. Bullen," one of them said, "I have up till now regarded
you as little more than a boy, in spite of your pluck in going up
as a native soldier to Chitral. Now I shall hold you in much higher
respect, and shall regard you as a young man with an exceptionally
sharp eye, and exceptionally keen discernment."

"I don't think I quite understand you, Mrs. Merritt," Lisle said
innocently.

"It is all very well for you to put on that air of ignorance. You
don't suppose that married men can keep matters like this from
their wives? I can tell you we all admire, very much, the manner in
which you saved Lieutenant Gordon from having to leave the service.
He is a favourite with us all and, though he seems to have made a
great fool of himself, we should all be sorry if he had had to
leave us."

"Well, you see, Mrs. Merritt, I am not a married man--"

"I should think not," the lady laughed.

"And do not know how much married men feel themselves bound to keep
secrets from their wives; and I can therefore neither confess nor
deny that I took any part in the incident to which you are
referring."

"Y