"Very strange," said he; "I was at Nuncombe Putney myself yesterday." "I know you were," said Stanbury.
"And how did you know it ?" There had been a tone of anger in Stanbury's voice which Colonel Osborne had at once appreciated, and which made him assume a similar tone.

As they spoke there was a man standing in a corner close by the bookstall, with his eye upon them, and that man was Bozzle, the ex-policeman,--who was doing his duty with sedulous activity by seeing "the Colonel" back to London.

Now Bozzle did not know Hugh Stanbury, and was angry with himself that he should be so ignorant.

It is the pride of a detective ex-policeman to know everybody that comes in his way.
"Well, I had been so informed.

My friend Trevelyan knew that you were there,--or that you were going there." "I don't care who knew that I was going there," said the Colonel.
"I won't pretend to understand how that may be, Colonel Osborne; but I think you must be aware, after what took place in Curzon Street, that it would have been better that you should not have attempted to see Mrs.Trevelyan.Whether you have seen her I do not know." "What business is it of yours, Mr.Stanbury, whether I have seen that lady or not ?" "Unhappily for me, her husband has made it my business." "Very unhappily for you, I should say." "And the lady is staying at my mother's house." "I presume the lady is not a prisoner in your mother's house, and that your mother's hospitality is not so restricted but that her guest may see an old friend under her roof." This Colonel Osborne said with an assumed look of almost righteous indignation, which was not at all lost upon Bozzle.