o the Duke a caprice.
He found the quick-thinking man of business amusing and even useful, but
for steady companionship he did not want him. A passage across the
Atlantic was more than enough to satisfy his desire for Mr. Barker's
society, even if Barker had not managed to excite his indignation. But
Claudius was different. The honest nobleman could not tell why it was,
but it was true, nevertheless. He looked upon the Doctor more as an
equal than Barker. The Duke was a very great man in his own country, and
it was singular indeed that he should find a man to his liking, a man
who seemed of his own caste and calibre, in the simple _privat-docent_
of a German university. Perhaps Barker felt it too. At all events, when
the Duke sat himself down in Claudius's room, after begging permission
to ring for lights, and made himself most evidently at home, Mr. Barker
felt that he was in the way; and so, promising to call on Claudius again
in the morning, he departed. Claudius stood by the mantelpiece while the
servant lit the gas.

"I am very glad to see you," he said, when the man had gone.

"I am glad of that, for I want your society. The Countess Margaret has a
headache, and Lady Victoria has gone to dine in her rooms, and to spend
the evening with her."

"I am very sorry to hear that the Countess is not well," said Claudius,
"but I am very glad of anything that brings you here to-night. I am in
trouble--that is, I have been very much annoyed."

"Ah, very sorry," said the Duke.

"It so happens that you are the only person in America, as far as I
know, who can help me."

"I?" The Duke opened his eyes wide. Then he reflected that it might be
something concerning the Countess, and waited.

"You are a gentleman," said Claudius reflectively, and hardly addressing
his visitor as he said it.

"Quite so," said the Duke. "It's a very fine word that."

"And a man of honour," continued Claudius in a meditative tone.

"The deuce and all, it's the same thing," said the Duke, rather puzzled.

"Yes; in some countries it is. Now, what I want to ask you is this.
Could you, as a gentleman and a man of honour, swear in a court of law
that you know me, and that I am the person I represent myself to be?
That is the question."

The Duke was too much surprised to answer directly. He made a great fuss
over his cigar, and got up and shut the window. Then he sat down in
another chair.

"I don't know what you mean," he said at last, to g