"Good morning," said a cheerful voice.
She looked up to meet the smiling eyes of the Duke.
A recollection of this man's despicable crime gave her a feeling akin to
sickness but she kept her eyes fixed on him.
"Getting ready for the concert?" he asked, but she made up her mind
quickly and cut his pleasantly short.
"I would advise you to forget about to-night's concert," she said.
He looked a little surprised.
"It's a strange thing you should say that," he replied, "for the fact is
I've been trying to forget about it--I'm in an awful funk."
Should she warn him?
"Is that unusual experience for you?" she questioned drily. She
marvelled to find herself engaged in a conversation with him.
"Unusual? Rather! I am as brave as a lion," he said frankly. "Hank
says I am about three ounces short of a hero."
He met her scornful gaze unwillingly.
"And a gallant also, I hear!" she retorted with a curl of her lip. He
made no reply to this charge, and she misread his silence.
"You do not deny _that_, M'sieur le Duc," she went on, "and why should
you? You must be aware that the reputation of as great a man as
yourself is more or less public property. The greatness that excuses
his eccentricities and turns his impertinences into amusing foibles may
perhaps leniently gloss over his sordid _affaires_, and give them the
value of romance."
All the time she spoke the lines between his eyes were deepening into a
frown, but he made no attempt at replying until she had finished.
"May I respectfully demand which of my _affaires_ you are referring to
at the moment?" he asked.
"Are they so many," she flamed.
"Hundreds," he said sadly, "was it the _affaire_ with the Princess de
Gallisitru, or the _affaire_ of the premiere denseuse, or the _affaire_
of--who else does one have _affaires_ with?"
"You cannot laugh this away," she said, and then before she could stop
herself she demanded with an emphasis that was almost brutal--
"What have you done with Mrs. Slewer?"
If she expected her question to create a sensation, she must have been
satisfied, for at the name he started back so that he almost lost his
balance. Then he recovered himself and for a moment only was silent.
"Mrs. Slewer," he repeated softly, "what have I done with Mrs.
Slewer--Mrs. Bill Slewer, of course?" he asked.
She did not speak.
"Of Four Ways, Texas?"
Still she made no response.
"A big bent chap with white eyes"--his voice had recovered its
flippancy--"and hands that hang like a 'rang-a-tang?"
She recognized the description.
"So I ran away--do you mind if I consult a friend? You'll admit that
this is a crisis in my affairs?"
She affected not to hear him and strolled to the other side of the
garden.
"Hank!" She heard his voice and another responding from the house.
"Hank," said the muffled voice of the duke. "I ran away with Mrs.
Slewer--Big Bill's wife."
"Eh?"
"I ran away with Mrs. Bill, and Bill is naturally annoyed, so Bill is
looking me up--in fact Bill----"
She could not catch the rest; she thought she heard Hank make a
reference to "hell," but she hoped she was mistaken.
By and by the Duke's head appeared above the wall.
"I suppose," he said, "now that you know the worst, you will tell me
this--when is Mr. Slewer going to call?"
She spoke over her shoulder, a convenient chrysanthemum with a pathetic
droop claiming her attention.
"I know nothing of Mr. Slewer's plans," said she distantly.
It was such a long time before he spoke again that she thought he must
have gone away, and she ventured a swift glance at the wall.
But he was still there with his mocking eyes fixed on hers.
"Perhaps we shall see him at the concert?" he suggested, "sitting in the
front row with his tragic and accusing eyes reproaching me?"
"How can you jest?"--she turned on him in a fury--"how can you turn this
terrible wrong into a subject for amusement? Surely you are not
completely lost to shame."
He rested his elbow on the top of the wall and dropped his chin between
his hands. When he spoke, it was less to her than to himself.
"Ran away with his wife, eh? Come, that's not so bad, but Bill couldn't
have thought of that himself. He's got a scar along the side of his
head--did you notice that Miss Terrill? No? Well, I did that," he said
complacently. "Yet Bill didn't mention it, that's his forgiving nature.
Did he tell you I jailed him for promiscuous shooting? Well, I did, and
when the governor revised the sentence of death passed upon him, I
organized a lynching party to settle with Bill for keeps.
"They smuggled him out of the gaol before my procession arrived. Bill
never told you about that episode. H'm! that's his modesty. I suppose
he's forgotten all these little acts of unfriendliness on my part. The
only thing that worries him now is--_put up your hands--quick_!"
She saw the Duke's face suddenly harden, his eyes narrow, and heard his
lazy drawl change in an instant to a sharp metallic command. Most
important of all his right hand held a wicked looking revolver. She was
standing before the conservatory door as the duke was speaking and
apparently the revolver was pointed at her. A voice behind her
reassured her.
"Say, Jukey," it drawled, "put down your gun--there's nothin' doin'."
She turned to face Mr. Slewer with his hands raised protestingly above
his head, injured innocence in every line of his face, and hanging
forward from the inside pocket of his jacket the butt of a Colt's
revolver, half drawn.