Sonia handed the keys to the Duke. He contrived to take her little
hand, keys and all, into his own, as he received them, and squeezed it.
The light was too dim for the others to see the flush which flamed in
her face. She went back and stood beside the bureau.

"Now, papa, are you going to motor to Paris in a thin coat and linen
waistcoat? If we're going, we'd better go. You always do keep us
waiting half an hour whenever we start to go anywhere," said Germaine
firmly.

The millionaire bustled out of the room. With a gesture of impatience
Germaine dropped into a chair. Irma stood waiting by the drawing-room
door. Sonia sat down by the bureau.

There came a sharp patter of rain against the windows.

"Rain! It only wanted that! It's going to be perfectly beastly!" cried
Germaine.

"Oh, well, you must make the best of it. At any rate you're well
wrapped up, and the night is warm enough, though it is raining," said
the Duke. "Still, I could have wished that Lupin confined his
operations to fine weather." He paused, and added cheerfully, "But,
after all, it will lay the dust."

They sat for three or four minutes in a dull silence, listening to the
pattering of the rain against the panes. The Duke took his
cigarette-case from his pocket and lighted a cigarette.

Suddenly he lost his bored air; his face lighted up; and he said
joyfully: "Of course, why didn't I think of it? Why should we start
from a pit of gloom like this? Let us have the proper illumination
which our enterprise deserves."

With that he set about lighting all the lamps in the hall. There were
lamps on stands, lamps on brackets, lamps on tables, and lamps which
hung from the roof--old-fashioned lamps with new reservoirs, new lamps
of what is called chaste design, brass lamps, silver lamps, and lamps
in porcelain. The Duke lighted them one after another, patiently,
missing none, with a cold perseverance. The operation was punctuated by
exclamations from Germaine. They were all to the effect that she could
not understand how he could be such a fool. The Duke paid no attention
whatever to her. His face illumined with boyish glee, he lighted lamp
after lamp.

Sonia watched him with a smiling admiration of the childlike enthusiasm
with which he performed the task. Even the stolid face of the ox-eyed
Irma relaxed into grins, which she smoothed quickly out with a
respectful hand.

The Duke had just lighted the twenty-second lamp when in bustled the