I present my excuses.

I have a despatch to write." The man on the couch turned his head and watched the departing figure with a shade of envy in his eyes.
"What is my preserver's name ?" he asked the doctor.
The latter looked as though the questions were irreverent.
"It is His Excellency the Major-General Baron Leopold Von Ragastein." "All that!" Dominey muttered.

"Is he the Governor, or something of that sort ?" "He is Military Commandant of the Colony," the doctor replied.

"He has also a special mission here." "Damned fine-looking fellow for a German," Dominey remarked, with unthinking insolence.
The doctor was unmoved.

He was feeling his patient's pulse.