with a hasty farewell, the visitor effected a rapid exit, ran down the worn stone stairs, flung himself into his gharry, and commanded the driver to take him to the Brigade Office in St. George's Fort.
Meanwhile Mr. Fleming lay back in his office chair, mopping his glistening pink face, and gasped out:
"That young fellow is going to give trouble!”
To which unpleasant suggestion, his companion calmly replied:
"Trouble for himself-yes! He will burn his fingers badly, without money he is tethered, and cannot move far. I bet you what you like," rapping his glasses on the desk, "that we shall have him here before the rains borrowing the coin to take him to England.”
CHAPTER II
Colonel Frederick Tallboys, Mallender Tallboys, to give him his complete name, held a high official appointment, and occupied suitable quarters in St. George's Fort. He belonged to a distant branch of the Mallender family, was head of a department, and the husband of a wealthy and worshipping wife. All his life now numbering over fifty years—"Freddy" had been steady, hard-working, and far-seeing; passed his examinations creditably,—if without distinction,—and from an English regiment entered the good old Madras Staff Corps, and worked his way up from adjutant to wing officer, till he had at last succeeded in climbing into a comfortable berth in the secretariat.
His climb was possibly accelerated by an attractive personality, a buoyant manner, and a remarkable skill in horsemanship. For years "Freddy T." had been the most notable gentleman rider in the Presidency; indeed, such was his fame, that it extended to Lucknow, the Punjab, and had even oozed into far Cashmere; but now, this wise little man had discarded his racing colours, and was resting on well-earned laurels.
