"Who is Ted?" I echoed staring at her. "What on earth do you mean?" She seemed to make a great mental effort. "Yes," she said. "Yes. It is Ted. _My husband._ I forgot. You see I've never seen him _here_ before." "You will soon grow accustomed to seeing him here," I said cheerfully. She shook her head. The two men met, and moved together towards the house. Essie looked round her in sudden panic. "I can't stay here," she said. "It's a trap. Where can I go?" Her eyes searched the room. There was no other door in it. She looked at the narrow latticed windows. Her eyes came back to me with sheer terror in them, such as I have seen in a snared wild animal. "You _must_ stay here," I said, "if you don't want to meet him. They will reach the open door into the garden long before you could cross the hall. Stay quietly where you are, and I will tell Ted you are unwell, and are resting." The two men were already in the hall. I went out to them, closing the door resolutely behind me. Rupert Maria Wenceslao di Soto, Duke of Urrutia, was a tall grave young man of few words, with close cropped hair and a lean clean shaven face. Ted introduced him to me, and then pressed him to have some luncheon. The long table down the banqueting hall shewed an array of which Fortnum and Mason might justly have been proud. The Duke was all courtesy and thanks, but had already lunched. His car would be here in ten minutes to take him to London. If agreeable to Mr. Hopkins he would say one word on business. He had called to modify his agent's letter about the mantelpieces. He was willing to sell them all as agreed at a valuation, except one. "Which one?" asked Ted, instantly changing from the exuberant host into the cautious business man. "The one in the south parlour," said the Duke, waving his hand towards the door of the room in which was Essie. "I desire to make it clear, as my agent has not done so, that everything in that room I intend to take with me, so that in my future home in the Pyrenees there may be one chamber exactly the same as my late mother's room in my old home here." The explanation quite bowled over Ted. The business man gave way to the man of sentiment. "Most creditable, I'm sure. Filial piety, most creditable. I don't recall the mantlepiece in question, but of course as your Grace wishes to keep it, I agree at once. Between gentlemen, no difficulties, everything open to arrangement, amicable settlement." The old woman, dissolved in tears, interrupted Ted's eloquence to tell "Mr. Rupert" that his car was at the door. The Duke led her gently out of the hall, his hand on her shoulder, and then came back. "I will detain you no longer from your luncheon," he said. "With your permission I will spend a few moments in my mother's chamber. It has many beautiful associations for me. I should like to see it once more before I leave for Spain." Ted hastened towards the door, but I barred the way.