Germaine and Sonia came into the room. The Duke stepped forward to
greet them.

"Do stop crying, papa. You're as hoarse as a crow as it is," said
Germaine impatiently. Then, turning on the Duke with a frown, she
said: "I think that joke of yours about the train was simply
disgraceful, Jacques. A joke's a joke, but to send us out to the
station on a night like last night, through all that heavy rain,
when you knew all the time that there was no quarter-to-nine train--
it was simply disgraceful."

"I really don't know what you're talking about," said the Duke
quietly. "Wasn't there a quarter-to-nine train?"

"Of course there wasn't," said Germaine. "The time-table was years
old. I think it was the most senseless attempt at a joke I ever
heard of."

"It doesn't seem to me to be a joke at all," said the Duke quietly.
"At any rate, it isn't the kind of a joke I make--it would be
detestable. I never thought to look at the date of the time-table. I
keep a box of cigarettes in that drawer, and I have noticed the
time-table there. Of course, it may have been lying there for years.
It was stupid of me not to look at the date."

"I said it was a mistake. I was sure that his Grace would not do
anything so unkind as that," said Sonia.

The Duke smiled at her.