“Thanks.  Why did you not come down town to-day?  Oh! of course you were away.  It was very good fun.  We had a regular bear garden.”

“It looked like something of that sort yesterday when I was there.”

“Yesterday?  Oh! you had never been there before.  Yes, it is always like that.  I say, come and take a drive in the park before dinner.”

“No, thanks.  I am very sorry, but I have an appointment in a few minutes.  I would like to go very much; you are very kind.”

“Business?” asked the inquisitive Mr. Barker.

“Well—­yes, if you like, business.”

“Oh!” said Barker.  “By the by, have you seen any of your lawyer people to-day?” Barker had expected that Claudius would confide to him the trouble Screw was raising.  But as Claudius did not begin, Barker asked the question.

“Yes,” answered the Doctor, “Screw has been here.  In fact he is just gone.”

“Anything wrong?” inquired the tormentor.

“No, nothing wrong that I know of,” said Claudius.  Then he suddenly turned sharply on Barker, and looked straight at him.  “Did you expect to hear that there was anything wrong?” he asked quickly.  Claudius had a very unpleasant way of turning upon his antagonist just a minute before the enemy was ready for him.  Barker had found this out before, and, being now directly interrogated, he winced perceptibly.

“Oh dear, no,” he hastened to say.  “But lawyers are great bores sometimes, especially where wills are concerned.  And I thought perhaps Screw might be wearying you with his formalities.”

“No,” said Claudius indifferently, “nothing to—­” he was interrupted by a knock at the door.  It was the Duke’s servant, a quiet man in gray clothes and gray whiskers.  He had a bald head and bright eyes.

“His Grace’s compliments, sir, and can you see him now, sir?”

“Yes, I will come in a moment,” said Claudius.

“I think, sir,” said the man, “that his Grace is coming to your rooms.”

“Very good.  My compliments, and I shall be glad to see him.”  The gray servant vanished.

Barker rose to go; but Claudius was begging him not to hurry, when there was another knock, and the Duke entered.  He shook hands with Claudius, and spoke rather coldly to Barker.  The latter was uneasy, and felt that he was in the way.  He was.  Barker had fallen into a singular error of judgment in regard to the relations existing between the Duke and Claudius.  He had imagined it in his power to influence the Duke’s opinion, whereas in trying to effect that object he had roused the Englishman’s animosity.  Besides, Mr. Barker was to the Duke a caprice.  He found the quick-thinking man of business amusing and even useful, but for steady companionship he did not want him.  A passage across the Atlantic was more than enough to satisfy his desire for Mr. Barker’s society, even if Barker had not managed to excite his indignation.  But Claudius was different.