CHAPTER XXVI
GENERAL FEVERSHAM'S PORTRAITS ARE APPEASED
Lieutenant Sutch, though he went late to bed, was early astir in the
morning. He roused the household, packed and repacked his clothes, and
made such a bustle and confusion that everything to be done took twice
its ordinary time in the doing. There never had been so much noise and
flurry in the house during all the thirty years of Lieutenant Sutch's
residence. His servants could not satisfy him, however quickly they
scuttled about the passages in search of this or that forgotten article
of his old travelling outfit. Sutch, indeed, was in a boyish fever of
excitement. It was not to be wondered at, perhaps. For thirty years he
had lived inactive--on the world's half-pay list, to quote his own
phrase; and at the end of all that long time, miraculously, something
had fallen to him to do--something important, something which needed
energy and tact and decision. Lieutenant Sutch, in a word, was to be
employed again. He was feverish to begin his employment. He dreaded the
short interval before he could begin, lest some hindrance should
unexpectedly occur and relegate him again to inactivity.
"I shall be ready this afternoon," he said briskly to Durrance as they
breakfasted.
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