you can run away.  My hairdresser is waiting for me, and he is just a little more independent than my chef.  Stop, though, there's one thing more."

The Duchess had rung a bell with her foot, and a servant was waiting at the windows to show David out.  The latter turned back.

"You are not making a fool of yourself with Letitia, are you?"David was very white and cold for a moment.  He looked his hostess in the face, and, as she expressed it afterwards, froze her up.

"I am afraid that I do not understand you, Duchess," he said.

"Oh, don't be silly!" she replied.  "Remember that I am your oldest friend in this country, and I say what I like to everybody.  You avoid most women as you would the plague--most women except Letitia.  I've warned you against the father.  Now I am warning you against the daughter.  And then you can go and lose your heart to one and lend a million to the other, if you want.  Letitia, for all her apparent amiability, is the proudest girl I ever knew.  I hope you understand me?"

"Perfectly!"

"Letitia will marry for money, all right," her aunt continued.  "She understands that that is her duty, and she will do it.  But it will be some one--you will forgive me, Mr. Thain--with kindred associations, shall I say?  Letitia, fortunately, takes after her father.  She has no temperament, but a sense of family tradition which will give her all the backbone she needs."

"Is there any other member of the family," David began--

"Don't be a silly boy," the Duchess interrupted, "because that's what you are, really, in this world and amongst our stupid class of people.  You are just as nice as can be, though.  Run along, and don't forget that you are coming to dine on Friday.  You'll meet the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he's going to try and persuade you to settle down here, for the sake of your income tax."

"Another plunderer!" David groaned.  "I am beginning to feel rather like a lamb with an exceedingly long fleece."

"You would look better with your hair cut," the Duchess remarked, as she waved her hand.  "Try that place at the bottom of Bond Street.  The Duke always goes there.  A Mr. Saunders is his man.  Better ask for him.  You'll find him at the top end of the room."

CHAPTER XIII

There was 

 Prev. P 65/218 next