"
And as though to escape from the thing of which his counsel had hinted,
Baron von Marhof took his departure at once.
Shirley met her brother on the veranda. His arrival had been unheralded
and she was frankly astonished to see him.
"Well, Captain Claiborne, you are a man of mystery. You will undoubtedly
be court-martialed for deserting--and after a long leave, too."
"I am on duty. Don't forget that you are the daughter of a diplomat."
"Humph! It doesn't follow, necessarily, that I should be stupid!"
"You couldn't be that, Shirley, dear."
"Thank you, Captain."
They discussed family matters for a few minutes; then she said, with
elaborate irrelevance:
"Well, we must hope that your appearance will cause no battles to be
fought in our garden. There was enough fighting about here in old times."
"Take heart, little sister, I shall protect you. Oh, it's rather decent
of Armitage to have kept away from you, Shirley, after all that fuss
about the bogus baron."
"Which he wasn't--"
"Well, Sanderson says he couldn't have been, and the rogues' gallery
pictures don't resemble our friend at all.
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