The Brigadier stared full at him for several seconds as if he saw nothing, his lips still moving secretly, silently.

Then suddenly, with a stiff gesture, he spoke.
"Ask the major sahib and the two captain sahibs to come to me here." The Indian saluted and vanished like a swift-moving shadow.
The Brigadier sank back into his chair, his head drooped forward, his hands clenched.

There was tragedy, hopeless and absolute, in every line of him.
There came the careless clatter of spurred heels and loosely-slung swords in the passage outside of the half-closed door, the sound of a stumble, a short ejaculation, and again a smothered laugh.
"Confound you Grange! Why can't you keep your feet to yourself, you ungainly Triton, and give us poor minnows a chance ?" The Brigadier sat upright with a jerk.

It was growing rapidly dark.
"Come in, all of you," he said.

"I have something to say.