"I gave them to him willingly," I told her. "I do not wish to have them back. He is one of my employers, and he has a right to claim them." I spoke firmly, and she saw that I was at any rate in earnest. Yet the look which she threw upon me was a strange one. I felt that she was disappointed, that a certain measure of contempt too was mingled with her disappointment. She threw the pistol on to the sofa and shrugged her shoulders. "After all," she said, "I suppose you are right. The whole affair is not worth these heroics. I am ready to go with you to the Duke, Guy, unless Colonel Ray has any contrary orders for us." Ray turned to me. "You must come with me at once to my rooms," he said coldly. "This person can find the Duke by herself, if indeed the Duke has sent for her." I understood then why people hated Ray. There was a vein of positive brutality somewhere in the man's nature. "I am sorry," I answered him, "but I cannot come to your rooms at present. The Duke is my present employer, and I am here to take Mrs. Smith-Lessing to him. As long as she is willing to accept my escort I shall certainly carry out my instructions." "Don't be a fool, boy," Ray exclaimed sharply. "I want to give you a last chance before I go to Lord Chelsford." "I do not think," I answered, "that I care about accepting any favours from you just now, Colonel Ray. Nor am I at all sure that I need them," I added. He turned on his heel, but at the door he hesitated again. "Guy," he said in a low tone, "will you speak to me for a moment outside?" I stood on the landing with him. He closed the door leading into the sitting-room. "Guy," he said, "you know that if I leave you behind, you link your lot with--them. You will be an outcast and a fugitive all your days. You will have to avoid every place where the English language is spoken. You will never be able to recover your honour, you will be the scorn of all Englishmen and English--women. I speak to you for your mother's sake, boy. You have started life with a cursed heritage. I want to make allowance for it." I looked him straight in the face. "I am afraid, Colonel Ray," I said, "that you are not inclined to give me credit for very much common sense. Take those papers to Lord Chelsford. I will come round to your rooms as soon as possible." He looked at me with eager, searching gaze. "You mean this?" "Certainly!" I answered. He seemed about to say something, but changed his mind. He left me without another word. I stepped back into the sitting-room. My father, with an empty tumbler in his hand, was crouched forward over the table, breathing heavily. My stepmother, with marble 'face and hard set eyes, was leaning forward in her chair, looking into the dying fire. She scarcely glanced at me as I entered. "Has he gone?" she asked. "Yes," I answered. "Will you get ready, please? I want to take you to the Duke."