“That was not a very nice story.  How odd!  I knew them both very well.  Do you remember where we left off, Dr. Claudius?”

“Page one hundred and nineteen,” answered the Doctor, who never forgot anything.  This looked like business, and the Duke rose.  He got away rather awkwardly.  As usual, he departed to wreak vengeance on Mr. Barker.

“Barker,” he began with emphasis, “you are an ass.”

“I know it,” said Barker, with humility.  “I have been saying it over to myself for a quarter of an hour, and it is quite true.  Say it again; it does me good.”

“Oh, that is all.  If you are quite sure you appreciate the fact I am satisfied.”

“It dawned upon me quite suddenly a few minutes ago.  Claudius has been here,” said Barker.

“He has been there too,” said the Duke.  “He is there now.”

“I suppose there is no doubt that we are talking about the same thing?”

“I don’t know about you,” said the other.  “I am talking about Claudius and Countess Margaret.  They never had a chance to speak all day yesterday, and now she asks him to come and read with her.  Just as I was telling no end of a jolly story too.”  Mr. Barker’s wrinkle wound slowly round his mouth.  He had been able to shave to-day, and the deep furrow was clearly defined.

“Oh! she asked him to read, did she?” Then he swore, very slowly and conscientiously, as if he meant it.

“Why the deuce do you swear like that?” asked the Duke.  “If it is not true that she has refused him, you ought to be very glad.”  And he stuffed a disreputable short black pipe full of tobacco.

“Why, of course I am.  I was swearing at my own stupidity.  Of course I am very glad if she has not refused him.”  He smiled a very unhealthy-looking smile.  “See here—­” he began again.

“Well?  I am seeing, as you call it.”

“This.  They must have had a talk yesterday.  He was here with me, and suddenly he got up and said he was going to read with her.  And you say that she asked him to read with her when he went to where you were.”

“Called out to him half across the deck—­in the middle of my story, too, and a firstrate one at that.”

“She does not care much for stories,” said Barker; “but that is not the question.  It was evidently a put-up job.”

“Meaning a preconcerted arrangement,” said the Duke.  “Yes.  It was arranged between them some time yesterday.  But I never left her alone until she said she was going to lie down.”

“And I never left him until you told me she had gone to bed.”

“She did not lie down, then,” said the Duke.

“Then she lied up and down,” said Barker, savagely playful.

“Ladies do not lie,” said the Duke, who did not like the word, and refused to laugh.

“Of course.  And you and I are a couple of idiots, and we have been protecting her when she did not want to be protected.  And she will hate us for ever after.  I am disgusted.  I will drown my cares in drink.  Will you please ring the bell?”