ll he said, and asking
questions that she knew would please him. But the latter part of the
ride seemed long, and the drive home interminable, for Margaret was in
haste to be alone. She was not sure that the Duke's manner had changed
since he had turned so strangely pale, but she fancied he spoke as if
making an effort. However, they reached the hotel at last, and
separated.

"Thanks, so much," she said; "it has been such a delightful morning."

"It has indeed," said he, "and--let me congratulate you once more.
Claudius is a gentleman in every way, and--I suppose he is as worthy of
you as any one could be," he added quickly, in a discontented voice, and
turned away, hat in hand. She stood looking after him a moment.

"I wonder," she said to herself as she entered her room and closed the
door. "Poor man! it is not possible, though. I must be dreaming. Ah me!
I am always dreaming now, it seems to me;" and she sank down in a chair
to wait for Clementine.

And so it is that some women go through life making far more victims
than they know of. There are some honest men who will not speak, unless
they have a right to, and who are noble enough to help those who have a
right. The Duke had known Margaret ever since she had married Alexis, as
has been said. Whether he had loved her or not is a question not so
easily answered. Certain it is that when she told him she was going to
be married to Claudius he turned very pale, and did not recover the
entire use of his mind for a whole day.

Nevertheless, during the succeeding fortnight he devoted himself
sedulously to Margaret's amusement, and many were the things that he and
she and Lady Victoria, and the incomparable Miss Skeat, who always
enjoyed everything, planned and carried out together. Margaret did not
shun society or shut herself up, and more than once she saw Barker in
the street and in the crowds at parties. The houses in America are so
small that parties are always crowded. But he had the good sense to
avoid her, and she was not troubled by any communication from him.
Clementine, indeed, wondered that so few flowers came, for a day or two,
and old Vladimir pondered on the probable fate of Mr. Barker, who, he
supposed, had been sent to Canada in chains for some political offence,
seeing that he called no longer. But these faithful servitors could not
ask questions, and sources of information they had none. Barker,
however, as Margaret had anticipated, had been active