paused on the threshold, turned and looked back at him, and
vanished.




CHAPTER V

A LETTER FROM LUPIN


The Duke stood for a while staring thoughtfully at the door through
which Sonia had passed, a faint smile playing round his lips. He
crossed the hall to the Chippendale bureau, took a cigarette from a
box which stood on the ledge of it, beside the morocco case which
held the pendant, lighted it, and went slowly out on to the terrace.
He crossed it slowly, paused for a moment on the edge of it, and
looked across the stretch of country with musing eyes, which saw
nothing of its beauty. Then he turned to the right, went down a
flight of steps to the lower terrace, crossed the lawn, and took a
narrow path which led into the heart of a shrubbery of tall
deodoras. In the middle of it he came to one of those old stone
benches, moss-covered and weather-stained, which adorn the gardens
of so many French chateaux. It faced a marble basin from which rose
the slender column of a pattering fountain. The figure of a Cupid
danced joyously on a tall pedestal to the right of the basin. The
Duke sat down on the bench, and was still, with that rare stillness
which only comes of nerves in perfect harmony, his brow knitted in
careful thought. Now and again the frown cleared from his face, and
his intent features relaxed into a faint smile, a smile of pleasant