"I went at once to Colonel Ray and offered my resignation," I answered.
The Duke nodded.
"Your father," he said slowly, "is in London?" "Yes, sir."
"Alone?"
I hesitated. Yet perhaps the Duke had a right to know the truth.
"He is with the lady who occupied Braster Grange, sir, until last week," I answered. "She passed under the name of Mrs. Smith-Lessing, but I believe that she is in reality my stepmother."
The Duke stood a few paces from me, looking out of the window. He held his cigarette between his fingers, and he stood sideways to me. Nothing about his attitude or face was unusual. Yet I felt myself watching him curiously. There was something about his manner which seemed to me to suggest some powerful emotion only kept in check by the exercise of a strong will.
"This is the person, I believe," he said in a slow measured tone, "with whom my son, Lord Blenavon, was said to have been intimate?"
"Lord Blenavon was certainly a constant visitor at Braster Grange," I answered.
"You know her address in London?" the Duke asked.