The Duchess liked to understand everything, and her husband’s reticence annoyed her.
“But we have the Japanese Ambassador always with us,” she remarked. “A most delightful person I call the Baron Hesho, and I am sure he loves us all.”
“That is not exactly the point, my dear,” the Duke explained. “Prince Maiyo is over here on a special mission. We ourselves have only been able to surmise its object with the aid of our secret service in Tokio. You can rest assured of one thing, however. It is of vast importance to the interests of this country that we secure his goodwill.”
The Duchess smiled good humoredly.
“Well, my dear Ambrose,” she said, “I don’t know what more we can do than feed him properly and give him pleasant people to talk to. He doesn’t go in for sports, does he? All I can promise is that we will do our best to be agreeable to him.”
“I am sure of it, my dear,” the Duke said. “You haven’t committed yourself to asking any one, by the bye?”
“Not a soul,” his wife answered, “except Sir Charles. I had to ask him, of course, for Penelope.”
“Naturally,” the Duke assented. “I am glad Penelope will be there. I only wish that she were English instead of American, and that Maiyo would take a serious fancy to her.”
“Perhaps,” the Duchess said dryly, “you would like him to take a fancy to Grace?”
“I shouldn’t mind in the least,” her husband declared. “I never met a young man whom I respected and admired more.”