He sighed.
“As I told you in my letter, it was her idea entirely that I should marry this American girl. She fixed it all up and never even told me that the girl had agreed until she was on her way from America.”
Pierre was very still and then he said in a voice that somehow sounded strange,
“I imagine from what I saw when I came into the room that you have told Miss Holtz about this and she has accepted the situation?”
The Duke smiled.
“I, of course, intended to tell her the truth, but there was no need.”
“Why not?”
“Because the attractive Miss Holtz is madly in love with a man she has met in Paris! She has told me that she will not marry me and has persuaded me to help her to return there tomorrow.”
“She told you that?”
Pierre’s voice was hoarse.
“God knows if I am doing the ri
