"Is that you, Yorke? Why do you not come in?"
The young fellow entered, and took the long thin hand the duke extended to him.
"Hallo, Dolph!" he said, lowering his voice. "How are you? What made you think of coming to this outlandish spot?"
The duke, still holding his cousin's hand, smiled up at him with a mixture of sadness and self raillery.
"I can't tell you, Yorke; I got tired of town, and told Grey to hunt up some place in Bradshaw that he had never heard of, some place right out of the beaten track, and he chose this."
"Poor unfortunate man!" said Lord Auchester, with a laugh.
"Yes, Grey suffers a great deal from my moods and humors; and so do other persons, yourself to wit, Yorke. It was very kind of you to come to me so soon."
"Of course I came," said Lord Auchester. "I wasn't very far off, you see."
"Fishing?" said the duke, with evident interest.
"Y-es; oh, yes," replied the other young man, quickly. "I rode over as far as Northcliffe——."