“Adieu,” he purred, but he still held my arm. “Do you remember that charming afternoon we spent, all four of us, in my poor palazzo? I presented to each of the ladies a little souvenir. To Mrs. Gordon I gave the useless old clock; to Miss Quintard, the chest that once contained the casket I have found and given to her. But to you I gave nothing. Our dealer, I have reason to think, has consoled himself. To you alone, my friend, I have been remiss.”
“Your regret is touching,” I murmured.
“But there is a little book I came across the other day when I was packing up my few belongings. It is only fourteen pages, but these fourteen pages are interesting. I have known travelers go all the way to St. Petersburg to consult them. Would it amuse you–this little souvenir? Or am I to infer that since the departure of your co-laborer in antiquarian studies you are no longer interested in curiosities?”
If I could have flung him into the muddy waters of the canal I should have been a little less miserable, but I affected the utmost delight. In the first place, I was really interested in seeing those pages. Again, I hoped to understand a little more clearly the drift of this afternoon’s talk. His reference to St. Hilary mystified me.
“I shall be charmed to receive it,” I cried.
The duke had watched my momentary indecision with evident anxiety. Now he seized my arm again and squeezed it in the warmth of his satisfaction. His face was radiant.
“Good! Good! My rooms are but a few feet from the Capello Nero.”
“So St. Hilary informed me,” I said pointedly.
“Ah, he is a wonderful man, your friend. Such resource, such imagination! And always on the lookout for himself, hein?”
The duke’s apartments were almost empty of furniture. There were no rugs on the floor, no belongings of a personal nature in sight. The pictures were covered, and the chairs formally ranged about the walls. The clock on the mantelpiece had stopped. Some old newspapers and magazines heaped on the library table were the only sign that the room was lived in. Otherwise the room was bare.