"You won’t put me off with your blarney," blazed the knight. "I know you, I’ve met men like you before." "Don’t boast," begged the Duke. "I’ll clear you out neck and crop——" "Neck perhaps," corrected the Duke, "but crop no; not being a fowl of the air, and being to a great extent anatomically ordinary, your illustration lacks point." "As to Alicia," said the knight with deadly earnestness. "I absolutely forbid her to have anything further to do with you." The Duke was silent. He looked at the elder man a little curiously, and Sir Harry, interpreting the silence in quite the wrong way, pursued his mistaken advantage. "You must understand that she is in a sense my ward——" "Mr. Nape!" The Duke addressed his editor. "Would you be kind enough to see me later in the day—what I have to say to Sir Harry is no fit thing for a young editor to hear." He said this gravely, and Mr. Nape made a reluctant exit. "Now that that child has gone," said the Duke, "will you permit me to say a few words? I am," he confessed, "rather fond of hearing myself speak. Sir Harry, I would rather you left your niece out of the conversation." "You would rather!" jeered the master of Hydeholme. "I would rather," said the Duke politely, "if you have no objection. You see, Sir Harry, I know all about your relationship with the father of my fiancée. I know how you lured him and his money into your rotten financial quicksands, how you left him to ruin." "That’s a lie, a horrible lie," gasped Sir Harry, pale with rage. In justice to him it may be said in passing, that he really thought that it was. The Duke diplomatically passed the comment. "Coming nearer home," he went on, "I know that you conspired with certain individuals to rob a most worthy young nobleman—to wit myself—of his mineral wealth." "That’s another lie: by Gad, sir? if you dare print this——!" "I _did_ think," said the Duke carefully, "I must confess that I _did_ think of using the material for a humorous poem, but if you _would_ rather I didn’t——" Sir Harry Tanneur made an admirable effort to recover his temper and his lost dignity. "If you cannot behave like a gentleman," he said, "it is useless for me to prolong this interview. To-day," he turned at the doorway, "to-day I shall take action." "From my knowledge of you," retorted the Duke, "I should imagine that you would take anything that happened to be lying about." Sir Harry was attended to the door by the sedate servant. "A nice household!" he said meaningly. The sedate servant bowed. VI