Chapter XIII
"WE shall get back," said the Duchess next night at dinner, "just in time for the autumn session. I am told I must give a political party, and I want you all to come. Bob always does, and our people stare at him as if he were a strange new beast. It does them good to find out that he has not a cloven hoof, and I am sure it is the best thing in the world for him to be civil to people who annoy him. Will you come, Sir Edward?"
That gentleman had been unaccountably glum during the meal, so that Mrs Yorke had given up in despair the effort of making conversation.
"I'm afraid I can't," he said moodily. "I shan't be in England till after Christmas, for I promised Carey to go up to Kashmir and have a look at his place there. But it would be worth while going back if I thought I wo
