Well; so it was settled.  The maid was in the kitchen, and was presently fetched; and she and Dolly sang together once or twice, though it was now after eleven o’clock.  They sang Mr. Wise’s “Go, perjured man,” I remember, again; and then M. Grabu’s “Song upon Peace.”  The Duke sat still in the great chair, shading his eyes from the candlelight, and watching my Cousin Dolly:  and once, when my Cousin Tom broke in upon the second song with something he had just thought of to say, he put him aside with a gesture, very royal and commanding, and yet void of offence, until the song was done.

“I beg your pardon, Mr. Jermyn,” he said a moment afterwards, “but I have never been so entranced.  What was it that you wished to say?”

As Dolly came towards him he stood up.

“Mistress Dorothy,” he said, “you have given us a great deal of pleasure.”  And he said this with so much gravity and feeling that she flushed.  It was the first evident sign she had given that he had pleased her.

“And I mean it,” he went on, “when I say it is a pity you do not come to town more often.  Such singing as that should have a larger audience than the two or three you have had to-night.”

Dolly smiled at him.

“Thank you, sir,” she said.  “But I know my place better than that.”

This was all a little bitter to me; for by this time a wild kind of jealousy had risen again in me which I knew to be unreasonable, and yet could not check.  It was true that I myself took the greatest pains never to forget my manners; but I knew very well that novelty has a pleasantness all of its own; and the novelty of such company as this, charged with the peculiar charm of the Duke’s manner, must surely, I thought, have its effect upon her.

“Well,” said he, “I could spend all night in this chamber with such music; but I must not keep Mistress Dorothy from her sleep another moment.”

He kissed her fingers with the greatest grace, and then bowed by the door as she went out.

* * * * *

When we had taken them to the great guest-room that was as large, very nearly, as the Great Chamber, and over it, and bidden them good-night, my Cousin Tom remembered that we had forgotten to ask Mr. Morton at what time he must ride in the morning; so I went back again to ask.

I stayed at the door for one instant after knocking, for it seemed they had not heard me; and in that little interval I heard the Duke’s voice within, very distinct.

“A damned pretty wench,” he cried.  “We must—­”

And at that I opened the door and went in, my jealousy suddenly flaming up again, so that I lost my wits.

They stared at me in astonishment.  The Duke already was stripped to his shirt by one of the beds.

“I beg your pardon, Sir,” I said.  “But at what hour will Your Grace have the horses?”

Mr. Atkins wheeled round full upon me; and the Duke’s mouth opened a little.  Then the Duke burst into a fit of laughter.