"You approve?" I heard him ask quietly.
"Approve is not the word," she declared eagerly. "It is magnificent."
"I wonder," he asked, "if you realize what it means?"
"It simply doesn't matter," she answered, with a delightful smile. "I can make my own dresses, if you like. Annette is a shocking nuisance to me."
"I am afraid," he remarked, with an odd little smile, "that Blenavon will scarcely regard the matter in the same light."
"Bother Blenavon!" she answered lightly. "I suppose you know that he's gone off abroad somewhere?"
"I had a hurried line from him with information to that effect," the Duke answered. "I think that it would have been more respectful if he had called to see me on his way through London."
I heard her sigh of relief.
"Now, tell me," she begged, "where shall we begin? Cowes, Homburg, town house, or Annette? I'm ready."
The Duke looked at her for a moment as I had never seen him look at any living person.