CHAPTER VI
“I think your friend the Duke of Reist is a very interesting man,” Sara Van Decht remarked, “but as a dinner companion he’s just a little depressing. I wonder what father and he will find to talk about.”
Ughtred laughed. They had just come out from the restaurant, to find the great hall almost full. Reist and Mr. Van Decht were sitting a little apart from them.
“Reist is a very good fellow,” Ughtred declared, “but just now he is not very much in the humour for gaiety. He is passionately attached to his country, and Theos, alas, is passing through a very anxious time in her history. No, you must not judge him by his demeanour to-night. I had much difficulty in persuading him to accept your father’s invitation.”
She nodded sympathetically.
“Has he come over to obtain aid from England?” she asked. “From the papers this morning it seems as though one of the Powers would have to interfere and straighten things out.”
Ughtred looked down with grave, steadfast eyes into the girl’s upturned face. It was time for him to tell her. How ridiculous it would sound. She would probably laugh at him.
“Reist came to England,” he said, “to find me.”