“Do you want a permanent job?” the Duke asked.  “Or would a temporary one fit you up for a time?”

“A temporary one would be all right, if it was in my line,” Andrew answered.

“We’ve got to send three delegates to a convention to be held at The Hague in a fortnight’s time, for the revision of the International Fishing laws,” the Duke remarked.  “Could you take that on?”

“I should think so,” Andrew answered.  “I’ve been out with the men from our part of the world since I was a child, and I know pretty well all that there is to be known on our side about it.  What is the convention about?”

“There are at least a dozen points to be considered,” the Duke answered.  “I’ll send you the papers to any address you like, to-morrow.  They’re at my office now in Downing Street.  Look ’em through, and see whether you think you could take it on.  I have two men already appointed, but they are both lawyers, and I wanted some one who knew more about the practical side of it.”

“I should think,” Andrew remarked, “that this is my job down to the ground.  What’s the fee?”

“The fee’s all right,” the Duke answered.  “You won’t grumble about that, I promise you.  You’ll get a lump sum, and so much a day, but the whole thing, of course, will be over in a fortnight.  What to do with you after that I can’t for the moment think.”

“We may hit upon something,” Andrew said cheerfully.  “What are you doing for lunch?  Will you come round to the ‘Travellers’ with me?  It’s the only London club I’ve kept going, but I dare say we can get something fit to eat there.”

“I’m jolly sure of it,” the Duke answered, “but while you’re in London you’re going to do your lunching with me.  We’ll go to the Athenaeum and show these sickly-looking scholars and bishops what a man should look like.  It’s almost time for luncheon, isn’t it?”

“Past,” Andrew answered.  “It was half-past twelve when I got here.”

“Then we will leave at once,” the Duke declared.  “I have nothing to do this morning, fortunately.  You don’t care about driving, I know.  We’ll walk.  It isn’t half a mile.”

They turned into the street together.

“By the by,” the Duke asked, “what has become of your brother’s friends?  I mean the little party that we broke into so unceremoniously.”

“The Princess and Miss Le Mesurier are, I believe, in London,” Andrew answered.  “I was very surprised to hear this morning that Forrest was still down at the Red Hall with Cecil.  By the by, Ronald has turned up again, of course?”

The Duke hesitated for so long that Andrew turned towards him, and noticed for the first time the anxious lines in his face.

“Since the day he left the Red Hall,” the Duke said, “Ronald has neither been seen nor heard from.  I forgot that you had been outside civilization for nearly a month.  Although I have tried hard, I have not been able to keep the affair altogether out of the papers.”