The Safety Pin by J.S. Fletcher

There presently strode into the landlord's private parlour a man, who, had he been in plain clothes instead of in a smart, tightly-fitting, black-braided blue uniform, would have been set down by nine people out of ten as a Life-Guardsman in mufti. A very tall, heavily-built man, with a keen, determined face, he turned a sharp, enquiring glance on Miss Cynthia Pretty in the same second wherein he nodded, half-carelessly, to Belling and Shelmore.

"Evening, Mr. Belling--even, Mr. Shelmore," he began. "What's all this?--gentleman disappeared from the Chancellor? This young lady's guardian, eh? Yes?--well. What are the surface facts, now?"