Produced by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) MY LORD DUKE BY E. W. HORNUNG NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1897 COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. CONTENTS I. THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY 1 II. "HAPPY JACK" 16 III. A CHANCE LOST 31 IV. NOT IN THE PROGRAMME 44 V. WITH THE ELECT 63 VI. A NEW LEAF 77 VII. THE DUKE'S PROGRESS 90 VIII. THE OLD ADAM 105 IX. AN ANONYMOUS LETTER 122 X. "DEAD NUTS" 137 XI. THE NIGHT OF THE TWENTIETH 151 XII. THE WRONG MAN 163 XIII. THE INTERREGNUM 180 XIV. JACK AND HIS MASTER 189 XV. END OF THE INTERREGNUM 199 XVI. "LOVE THE GIFT" 215 XVII. AN ANTI-TOXINE 223 XVIII. HECKLING A MINISTER 233 XIX. THE CAT AND THE MOUSE 244 XX. "LOVE THE DEBT" 257 XXI. THE BAR SINISTER 266 XXII. DE MORTUIS 282 MY LORD DUKE CHAPTER I THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY The Home Secretary leant his golf-clubs against a chair. His was the longest face of all. "I am only sorry it should have come now," said Claude apologetically. "Just as we were starting for the links! Our first day, too!" muttered the Home Secretary. "_I_ think of Claude," remarked his wife. "I can never tell you, Claude, how much I feel for you! We shall miss you dreadfully, of course; but we couldn't expect to enjoy ourselves after this; and I think, in the circumstances, that you are quite right to go up to town at once." "Why?" cried the Home Secretary warmly. "What good can he do in the Easter holidays? Everybody will be away; he'd much better come with me and fill his lungs with fresh air." "I can never tell you how much I feel for you," repeated Lady Caroline to Claude Lafont. "Nor I," said Olivia. "It's too horrible! I don't believe it. To think of their finding him after all! I don't believe they _have_ found him. You've made some mistake, Claude. You've forgotten your code; the cable really means that they've _not_ found him, and are giving up the search!" Claude Lafont shook his head.