laudius thought of it, his teeth set, and he looked capable of breaking
any number of necks, then and there.

But for all his wrath and his suspicions, the real cause of Barker's
strange behaviour never presented itself to his mind. It never struck
him that Barker could aspire to Margaret's hand; and he merely
concluded that the young man had laid a plot for getting his money. If
any one had related to Claudius the scene which took place at Mrs. Van
Sueindell's the very night when he sent his telegram, he would have
laughed the story to scorn in perfect good faith, for he could not have
believed it possible. Nor, believing it, would he have cared. And so he
rushed across Europe, and never paused till he had locked himself into
his stateroom on board the steamer, and had begun a long letter to
Margaret. He knew that he would see her as soon as a letter could reach
her, but that made no difference. He felt impelled to write, and he
wrote--a letter so tender and loving and rejoicing that were it to
appear in these pages no lover would ever dare write to his lady again,
lest she chide him for being less eloquent than Claudius, Phil.D. of
Heidelberg. And he wrote on and on for many days, spending most of his
time in that way.

Meanwhile, the Duke and Margaret cantered in the Park, and talked of all
kinds of things; or rather, the Duke talked, and Margaret thought of
Claudius. Before they returned, however, she had managed to let the Duke
know that the Doctor was on his way back; whereat the Englishman
rejoiced loudly. Perhaps he would have given a great deal to know
whether they were engaged, to be married; but still Margaret gave no
sign. It was far from her thoughts; and the fact had only presented
itself in that form to her on the spur of the moment, the preceding
evening, as likely to prove a crushing blow at once to Mr. Barker's
plotting and Mr. Barker's matrimonial views. But while the Duke talked,
she was thinking. And as the situation slowly unfolded its well-known
pictures to her mind, she suddenly saw it all in a different light.

"I must be mad," she thought. "Barker will tell every one; and the Duke
ought not to know it except from me!"

"Speaking of Dr. Claudius--" she began; the Duke was at that moment
talking earnestly about the Pueblo Indians, but that was of no
importance. "Speaking of the Doctor, you ought to know--I would rather
that no one else told you--we are going to be married."

The Duke was so