es."

"Here?" the Duke asked sharply.

"Yes, I have seen them riding on the sands, and Blenavon dined there on
the night--Mr. Ducaine has been speaking of."

"Blenavon is a fool!" the Duke said. "This is to my mind convincing
proof that he was ignorant of the woman's antecedents. At the worst he
probably regarded her as an ordinary adventuress. As for the rest, I
look upon it as the most extraordinary mare's nest which the mind of man
could possibly conceive. Do you mean to tell me, Mr. Ducaine, that
Colonel Ray went so far as to charge Blenavon to his face with being in
league with this person?"

"He certainly did, sir."

"And Blenavon? Oh, Ray is mad, stark mad!"

"Your son denied it, sir," I answered.

"Denied it! Of course he did. What followed?"

"Colonel Ray was very forcible and very imperative, sir," I answered.
"He insisted upon Lord Blenavon leaving England at once."

"Well?"

"Lord Blenavon consented to do so, sir," I said quietly.

I saw the veins in the Duke's forehead stand out like whipcord. He
began a sentence and left it unfinished. He was in that condition when
words are impotent.

"Can you tell me, Mr. Ducaine," he asked, "what possible argument
Colonel Ray could have made use of to induce my son to consent to this
extraordinary proceeding?"

"I know no more about the matter, your Grace," I answered. "Perhaps
Lord Blenavon felt that his intimacy with Mrs. Smith-Lessing had
compromised him--that appearances were against him--"

"Pshaw!" the Duke interrupted. "Blenavon's intrigues are foolish
enough, but they are beside the mark.. I want to know what further
argument or inducement Colonel Ray used. I understand neither why Ray
desired to get rid of my son, nor why my son obeyed his ridiculous
request."

"Colonel Ray will doubtless have some further explanation to offer you,
sir," I said.

"He had better," the Duke answered grimly. "I shall wire him to come
here at once. With your permission, Mr. Ducaine, I will sit down for a
moment. This affair has shaken me."

Indeed, as the excitement passed away, I could see that he was looking
ill and worn. Lady Angela made him take the easy chair, and he accepted
a liqueur glass full of brandy which I poured out. He remained for
several minutes sipping it and looking thoughtfully into the fire. He
seemed to me to have aged by a dozen years. The brisk alertness of his
manner had all departed. He was an old man, limp and querulous.

"This un