to be bound.

'He has told me that he thinks it my duty to make the attempt.'

'Who is he?'

'Mr Gresham. I do not know that I should have felt myself bound
by him, but the Duke said also.' This duke was our duke's old
friend, the Duke of St Bungay.

'Was he there? And who else?'

'No one else. It is no case for exultation, Cora, for the
chances are that I shall fail. The Duke has promised to help me,
on condition that one or two he has named are included, and that
one or two whom he has also named are not. In each case, I
should myself have done exactly as he proposes.'

'And Mr Gresham?'

'He will retire. That is a matter of course. He will intend to
support me, but all that is veiled in the obscurity which is
always, I think, darker as to the future of politics than any
other future. Clouds arise, one knows not why or whence, and
create darkness when one expected light. But as yet, you must
understand, nothing is settled. I cannot even say what answer I
may make to her Majesty, till I know what commands her Majesty
may lay upon me.'

'You must keep a hold of it now, Plantagenet,' said the Duchess,