"Sally, would you like to know who has written all those letters to our girl, and who is her gentleman lover?"
"Of course I should, Daddy."
"His name is Arthur Temple."
"Not the Mr. Temple we met in the country!" exclaimed Sally, clasping her hands in a kind of despair. "He must be an old man by this time."
Seth could not help smiling sympathetically. This dismay at the thought of an old lover for their Duchess was very intelligible to him.
"No, it cannot certainly be that Mr. Temple. But it would be a strange thing if Arthur Temple should turn out to be his son. However, that has to be discovered. Sally, I have made up my mind what to do; and you may depend that it will be for the good of the Duchess."
"You mustn't interfere with her, Daddy. She won't put up with it."
"She will not know what I am about; what I do shall be done secretly. It is my duty not to allow this to go on any further without an understanding of some sort. To arrive at this I must set a watch upon her."
"Oh, Daddy if she should see you!"
"She shall not see me; I will take care of that. Sally, another thing has to be done; we're to enter into a compact. Not a word of all this to the Duchess."