Claude was deeply moved by the spectacle of a stronger man than himself so stricken in every nerve. He looked very compassionately upon the eager open face. There were a few grey hairs about either temple, but in the faint starlight they looked perfectly white; and there were crow's-feet under the eyes that seemed to have escaped his attention till now. He consented to remain on one condition: he must go back and put out the lights, and close the windows in the Poet's Corner. So Jack went with him; and those lights were the only sign of life in all the vast expanse of ancient masonry, that still belonged to one of them, though they knew not now to which. It was this thought, perhaps, that kept both men silent on the terrace when the lights had been put out and the windows shut. Then Jack ran his arm affectionately through that of Claude, and together they turned their backs upon those debatable stones. CHAPTER XIII THE INTERREGNUM Lady Caroline Sellwood was delighted to find Jack in the hall on making her descent next morning. He appeared lost, however, in a gloomy admiration of the ghostly guard in armour. The attitude and the expression were alike so foreign to him that Lady Caroline halted on the stairs. But only for a moment; the next, Jack was overwhelmed by the soft tempest of her good-will, and making prodigious efforts to return her smiles. Suddenly she became severe. "You're knocked up! You look as if you hadn't had a wink of sleep. Oh, I knew how it would be after all that racket; you dear, naughty Duke, you should have spared yourself more!" "I was a fool," admitted Jack. "But--but I say, Lady Caroline, I do wish you wouldn't Duke me!" "How sweet of you," murmured Lady Caroline. "You know you didn't last night!" he hastily reminded her. "But that was an occasion." "So is this!" exclaimed Jack, and his tone struck the other more than she showed. "Where is Claude?" inquired Lady Caroline suddenly. "On his way to Devenholme." "Devenholme!" "And London, for the day. He had to catch the 9.40." "So he has gone up to town! Odd that one never heard anything about it--I mean to say he could have made himself so useful to one. May I ask when he decided to go?" Jack hesitated. He had been charged to keep a discreet tongue during Claude's absence; he had been supplied with a number of reasons and excuses ready-made; but perfect frankness was an instinctive need of this primitive soul, whose present thoughts stood out in easy print upon his face, even as he resolved to resist his instincts for once.