nk," Andrew remarked, "that this is my job down to the
ground. What's the fee?"

"The fee's all right," the Duke answered. "You won't grumble about
that, I promise you. You'll get a lump sum, and so much a day, but the
whole thing, of course, will be over in a fortnight. What to do with
you after that I can't for the moment think."

"We may hit upon something," Andrew said cheerfully. "What are you
doing for lunch? Will you come round to the 'Travellers' with me? It's
the only London club I've kept going, but I dare say we can get
something fit to eat there."

"I'm jolly sure of it," the Duke answered, "but while you're in London
you're going to do your lunching with me. We'll go to the Athenaeum and
show these sickly-looking scholars and bishops what a man should look
like. It's almost time for luncheon, isn't it?"

"Past," Andrew answered. "It was half-past twelve when I got here."

"Then we will leave at once," the Duke declared. "I have nothing to do
this morning, fortunately. You don't care about driving, I know. We'll
walk. It isn't half a mile."

They turned into the street together.

"By the by," the Duke asked, "what has become of your brother's
friends? I mean the little party that we broke into so unceremoniously."

"The Princess and Miss Le Mesurier are, I believe, in London," Andrew
answered. "I was very surprised to hear this morning that Forrest was
still down at the Red Hall with Cecil. By the by, Ronald has turned up
again, of course?"

The Duke hesitated for so long that Andrew turned towards him, and
noticed for the first time the anxious lines in his face.

"Since the day he left the Red Hall," the Duke said, "Ronald has
neither been seen nor heard from. I forgot that you had been outside
civilization for nearly a month. Although I have tried hard, I have not
been able to keep the affair altogether out of the papers."

Andrew was thunderstruck.

"Good God!" he exclaimed. "Why, Berners, this is one of the strangest
things I ever heard of. What are you doing about it?"

"I am employing detectives," the Duke answered. "I do not see what else
I could do. They have been down to the Red Hall. In fact I believe one
of them is still in the vicinity. Your brother's story as to his
departure seems to be quite in order, although no one at the railway
station is able to remember his travelling by that train. They seem to
remember the car, however, which is practically the same thing, and
several