ice for rage--

'This way!' he said. 'We did not know that a general officer was coming,
or we would have been better prepared!' And muttering oaths under
his breath, he led me down the well-known passage. At the door of the
parlour he stopped. 'Introduce yourself!' he said rudely. 'And if you
find the air warm, don't blame me!'

I raised the latch and went in. At a table in front of the hearth, half
covered with glasses and bottles, sat two men playing hazard. The dice
rang sharply as I entered, and he who had just thrown kept the box
over them while he turned, scowling, to see who came in. He was a
fair-haired, blonde man, large-framed and florid. He had put off his
cuirass and boots, and his doublet showed frayed and stained where the
armour had pressed on it. Otherwise he was in the extreme of last year's
fashion. His deep cravat, folded over so that the laced ends drooped a
little in front, was of the finest; his great sash of blue and silver
was a foot wide. He had a little jewel in one ear, and his tiny beard
was peaked A L'ESPAGNOLE. Probably when he turned he expected to see the
sergeant, for at the sight of me he rose slowly, leaving the dice still
covered.

'What folly is this?' he cried, wrathfully. Here, sergeant!
Sergeant!--without there! What the--! Who are you, sir?'

'Captain Larolle,' I said uncovering politely, 'I believe?'

'Yes, I am Captain Larolle,' he retorted. 'But who, in the fiend's name,
are you?' You are not the man we are after!'

'I am not M. Cocheforet,' I said coolly. 'I am merely a guest in the
house, M. le Capitaine. I have been enjoying Madame de Cocheforet's
hospitality for some time, but by an evil chance I was away when you
arrived.' And with that I walked to the hearth, and, gently pushing
aside his great boots which stood there drying, I kicked the logs into a
blaze.

'MILLE DIABLES!' he whispered. And never did I see a man more
confounded. But I affected to be taken up with his companion, a sturdy,
white-moustachioed old veteran, who sat back in his chair, eyeing me
with swollen cheeks and eyes surcharged with surprise.

'Good evening, M. le Lieutenant,' I said, bowing gravely. 'It is a fine
night.'

Then the storm burst.

'Fine night!' the Captain shrieked, finding his voice at last. 'MILLE
DIABLES! Are you aware, sir, that I am in possession of this house, and
that no one harbours here without my permission? Guest? Hospitality?
Bundle of fiddle-faddle! Lieutenant,