There was a moment's pause. He took up his hat and gloves. Then, suddenly, Lady Eleanor said:
"Do you know a place called Portmaris, Mr. Duncombe?"
CHAPTER XIV.
"NOW, YORKE!"
The carefully brushed, exquisitely shining, and glossy hat—the city man's god, as it has been called—fell from his hands, and he flushed and then turned pale; but that, perhaps, was at his clumsiness. At any rate, whatever the cause, he was able to look Lady Eleanor steadily in the face when he recovered his hat.
"Portmaris?" he said, smoothing it with his sleeve. "Yes, I know it. It is a small fishing village on the west coast. Why do you ask?" and his keen eyes grew to her face.
"Oh, I only heard of it the other day," she said.
"A friend of mine, the Duke of Rothbury, has gone down there, and——," she paused a moment—"and Lord Auchester has been there."