His quickness in detecting the swindle, and the steps he had taken to obtain proof of his suspicions, showed that he possessed other qualities besides pluck and determination.
It is to be feared that some, at least, of the married officers either did not regard the promise of silence as affecting their wives, or had told them what had taken place before they were requested to abstain from alluding to it; for three or four of the ladies made sly allusions, when talking to Lisle, which showed that they were cognizant of what had taken place.
"Well, Mr.Bullen," one of them said, "I have up till now regarded you as little more than a boy, in spite of your pluck in going up as a native soldier to Chitral.

Now I shall hold you in much higher respect, and shall regard you as a young man with an exceptionally sharp eye, and exceptionally keen discernment." "I don't think I quite understand you, Mrs.Merritt," Lisle said innocently.
"It is all very well for you to put on that air of ignorance.

You don't suppose that married men can keep matters like this from their wives?
I can tell you we all admire, very much, the manner in which you saved Lieutenant Gordon from having to leave the service.
He is a favourite with us all and, though he seems to have made a great fool of himself, we should all be sorry if he had had to leave us." "Well, you see, Mrs.Merritt, I am not a married man--" "I should think not," the lady laughed.
"And do not know how much married men feel themselves bound to keep secrets from their wives; and I can therefore neither confess nor deny that I took any part in the incident to which you are referring." "You silly boy! Don't you see that I know all about it, and that it is ridiculous for you to pretend to misunderstand me ?" "I do not pretend, Mrs.Merritt.I only know that I have given my promise that I will keep absolute silence on the matter, and that no exception was made as to the ladies of the regiment.

That, of course, lies between them and their husbands." "Well, whether that is so or not, Mr.Bullen, I can tell you that the affair has very greatly raised you in our esteem.

We all liked you before; but we really did regard you only as a young officer who had proved that he possessed an uncommon amount of pluck and determination.