khaki will not cost you anything
like so much as they would, if you got them at a military tailor's in
London. However, if you want more, you will be able to draw it."

"Thank you very much, sir! I will not detain you any longer, now; but
will, if you will allow me, come in to say goodbye before I start.
Captain Ewart is waiting to speak to you. He came with me from Lord
Cromer's."

Captain Ewart then went in, and after settling the business on which he
had come, asked Mr. Murray questions about Gregory, and received a
sketch of his story.

"He seems to be a fine young fellow," he said, "well grown and active,
not at all what one would expect from a product of Cairo."

"No, indeed. Of course, you have not seen him to advantage, in that
black suit, but in his ordinary clothes I should certainly take him, if
I had not seen him before, to be a young lieutenant freshly come out to
join."

"Did you know the father?"

"No, I was not here at that time; but the mother was a lady, every
inch. It is strange that neither of them should have friends in
England. It may be that she preferred to earn her living here, and be
altogether independent."

"She had a pension, hadn't she?"

"A small one, but she really earned her living by teaching. She gave
lessons to the ladies in English, French, and music, and had classes
for young boys and girls. I once asked her if she did not intend to go
back and settle in England, and she said 'Possibly, some day.'

"I fancy that there must have been some mystery about the affair--what,
I can't say; but at any rate, we may take it that such a woman would
not have married a man who was not a gentleman."

"Certainly the boy looks a well-bred one," Captain Ewart said, "and I
am sure that the Sirdar must have been taken with him. You don't know
any more about his father than you have told me?"

"Very little. Once, in talking with his wife, she told me that her
husband had been in a commercial house, in Alexandria, for a year; but
the place was burned down at the time of the bombardment. Being thus
out of harness, he became an assistant to one of the army contractors
and, when things settled down at Cairo, obtained a berth as
interpreter, with the temporary rank of captain, on Hicks Pasha's
staff, as he also spoke Arabic fluently. I can tell you no more about
him than that, as I never saw him; though no doubt he came here with
his wife, when her account was opened.

"I was interested in he