Swinging round from the windows, he fronted the Duke, flushed with excitement wholly defiant. "I will leave the palace, at once, as you wish," he announced. "I have no alternative, of course. I recognize that. But I shall leave the Court behind, too! Neither Windsor, nor Sandringham, attract me. I begin to feel the need of--a holiday. I shall run out into the country. I have--friends in the country." He laughed recklessly. "This is my way of going on strike!" An odd, dancing light, which almost suggested a suddenly awakened sense of humour, shone, for a moment, in the Duke's luminous, piercing eyes. But he pursed up his lips doubtfully, "It is a private, incognito visit, that you are suggesting, I take it, sir?" he remarked. "In the present crisis, such a visit would involve--serious risks. But, I am bound to confess, that it would not be without--compensating advantages!" His grim smile returned. "No one would know where you were. And your departure from the palace, which must not be delayed, would attract little or no attention. If you left the Court behind you, as you propose, you would merely take one or two members of the household staff with you, I presume?" "I shall take nobody with me. I shall go by myself," the King declared. Yes. In this matter, at any rate, he would have his own way. The Duke shot one of his keen, searching glances at the King. Then he swung round on his heel, and paced slowly down the whole length of the library. The King watched him, fascinated, curious, exalted. At the far end of the room, the Duke paused, turned, and retraced his steps. His first words, as he halted, once again, beside the writing table absolutely took the King's breath away. "I shall offer no opposition whatever to your reckless little excursion, sir," he said. "I surprise you, sir? I hoped to surprise you! But this is no time, there is no time, for--explanations. Reckless as your proposal is, the more I think about it, the more conscious I become of its many advantages. But, with your permission, sir, I will attach two conditions to your--holiday." Again he smiled grimly. "In the first place, I must know where you are going, so that I can communicate with you, at once, when the need arises. In the second place I will ask you to honour me with an undertaking that you will remain in your rural retreat, until I have communicated with you." The King could hardly believe his own ears. That the Duke should accept, should even express a guarded approval of his rebellion--that was what his reckless proposal amounted to!--was wholly unbelievable. It could not be true! A sudden sense of unreality, the consciousness, which had been so frequently with him, of late, here in the palace, that he was living in a dream, a wild, grotesque, nightmare dream, swept over the King. Of all the unreal scenes in his dream, this surely, was the most unreal!