"But, madam--"
"Oh, she confessed to me all about it, and how you had tried to pay
Ronald's debts for him out of your own pocket,--which was very
magnificent but quite absurd."
"Yes," sighed Barnabas, "so now I am determined to free him from
Chichester first--"
"By dispossessing Chichester?"
"Yes, madam."
"But--can't you see, if you force him to expose you it will mean
your social ruin?"
"But then I gave--Her--my promise."
"Oh, Barnabas," said the Duchess, looking up at him with her young,
beautiful eyes that were so like Cleone's, "what a superb fool you
are! And your father is only a village inn-keeper!"
"No, madam,--he was champion of all England as well."
"Oh!" sighed the Duchess, shaking her head, "that poor Sir Mortimer
Carnaby! But, as for you, sir, you 're a fool, either a very clumsy,
or a very--unselfish one,--anyhow, you're a fool, you know!"
"Yes," sighed Barnabas, his head hanging, "I fear I am."
"Oh yes,--you're quite a fool--not a doubt of it!" said the Duchess
with a nod of finality. "And yet, oh, dear me! I think it may be
because I'm seventy-one and growing younger every day, or perhaps
because I'm so old that I have to wear a wig, but my tastes are so
peculiar that there are some fools I could almost--love. So you may
give me your arm,--Barnabas."
He obeyed mechanically, and they went on down the road together in
silence until they came to a pair of tall, hospitable gates, and
here Barnabas paused, and spoke wonderingly: "Madam, you--you surely forget I am the son of--"
"A champion of all England, Barnabas. But, though you can thrash Sir
Mortimer Carnaby, Wilfred Chichester is the kind of creature that
only a truly clever woman can hope to deal with, so you may leave him
to me!"
"But, madam, I--"
"Barnabas, quite so. But Wilfred Chichester always makes me shudder,
and I love to shudder--now and then, especially in the hot weather.
And then everything bores me lately--Cleone, myself,--even Whist, so
I'll try my hand at another game--with Wilfred Chichester as an
opponent."
"But, Duchess, indeed I--"
"Very true, Barnabas! but the matter is quite settled. And now, you
are still determined to--confess your father to Cleone, I suppose?"
"Yes, I dare not speak to her otherwise, how could I, knowing myself
an--"