not help being amused, but at the same time she was annoyed at what she considered a bit of unnecessary officiousness on the part of her host.  However, he was such an old friend that she forgave him.  But woman’s nature is impatient of control.  Left to herself she would have avoided Claudius; forcibly separated from him she discovered that she wanted to speak to him.  As the day wore on and the Duke’s attentions never relaxed, she grew nervous, and tried to think how she could send him away.  It was no easy matter.  If she asked for anything, he flew to get it and returned breathless, and of course at that very moment Claudius was just out of range.  Then she called Miss Skeat, but the Duke’s eloquence redoubled, and he talked to them both at once; and at last she gave it up in despair, and said she would lie down for a while.  Once safe in her stateroom, the Duke drew a long breath, and went in search of Mr. Barker.  Now Mr. Barker, in consequence of the idea that had unfolded itself to his fertile brain in the darkness of night, had been making efforts to amuse Claudius all day long, with as much determination as the Duke had shown in devoting himself to the Countess, but with greater success; for Barker could be very amusing when he chose, whereas the Duke was generally most amusing when he did not wish to be so.  He found them in the smoking cabin, Claudius stretched at full length with a cigarette in his teeth, and Barker seated apparently on the table, the chair, and the transom, by a clever distribution of the various parts of his body, spinning yarns of a high Western flavour about death’s-head editors and mosquitoes with brass ribs.

The Duke was exhausted with his efforts, and refreshed himself with beer before he challenged Barker to a game.

“To tell the truth, Duke,” he answered, “I don’t seem to think I feel like winning your money to-day.  I will go and talk to the ladies, and Claudius will play with you.”

“You won’t make much headway there,” said the Duke.  “The Countess is gone to bed, and Miss Skeat and my sister are reading English history.”

“Besides,” put in Claudius, “you know I never play.”

“Well,” said Barker, with a sigh, “then I will play with you, and Claudius can go to sleep where he is.”  They cut and dealt.  But Claudius did not feel at all sleepy.  When the game was well started he rose and went out, making to himself the same reflection that Margaret had made, “Why is my friend so anxious to amuse me to-day?” He seldom paid any attention to such things, but his strong, clear mind was not long in unravelling the situation, now that he was roused to thinking about it.  Barker had guessed the truth, or very near it, and the Duke and he had agreed to keep Claudius and Margaret apart as long as they could.

He went aft, and descended to the cabin.  There sat Miss Skeat and Lady Victoria reading aloud, just as the Duke had said.  He went through the passage and met the steward, or butler, whom he despatched to see if the Countess were in the ladies’ cabin.  The rosy-cheeked, gray-haired priest of Silenus said her ladyship was there, “alone,” he added with a little emphasis.  Claudius walked in, and was not disappointed.  There she sat at the side of the table in her accustomed place, dark and beautiful, and his heart beat fast.  She did not look up.