the hall porter or before a crowd
in the ante-room of a second-rate club. He naturally--for that sort of
thing becomes second nature--pulled himself together and walked out
into the street."

You must not think for a moment that Sir Thomas Ryder was habitually a
talkative man. Englishmen of his class and type are rarely talkative,
and Sir Thomas's position and occupation had rendered him less
communicative than most. But Colonel Harris and he had been brother
officers, friends long before family ties were closely knit by
marriage, and he considered the present crisis a very serious one.

He had had enough to do with crime in the past few years since he had
obtained the interesting post which he now occupied, but never with a
crime which affected him personally as this one did. Luke de Mountford
was of course nothing to him, except in connection with Louisa Harris.
But this was a strong tie. Louisa was his own wife's niece; she was
the daughter of a friend, of a brother officer. No one who is not in
some manner or other in touch with military men can have the slightest
idea of how much those two magic words mean: "brother officer": what
magnetism lies in them: what appeal they make to all that is most
loyal, most willing, most helpful in a man.

Sir Thomas felt that the mud of irretrievable disgrace which was bound
to smirch Luke de Mountford would in no small measure redound on
Louisa too. Instinctively too all his sensibilities recoiled against
the idea of a gentleman, one of his own caste, being dragged in this
peculiarly loathsome mire. It seemed impossible that that type of man
should commit a murder--a murder--just an ordinary, brutal,
commonplace murder, such as the rough and tumble herd of humanity
commit when under the stress of vulgar passions: greed, avarice,
jealousy. It was this juxtaposition of the mean and sordid against his
own class that revolted Sir Thomas Ryder. He was loyal to his brother
officer in his endeavour to induce him to keep out of all that mud
which would be scattered all round presently, when the papers came out
with their sensational headlines; but he was also--perhaps more
so--loyal to his caste: his was the _esprit de corps_, not only of
militarism but of birth and breeding. He would not, if he could, have
a gentleman held up to opprobrium, and if this could be avoided by the
unfortunate criminal's flight from justice--well, Sir Thomas was ready
and willing to take upon his shoulders