"No, to dress. I've got to go out to a—to a party. I had almost forgotten about it. The truth is, I want to see Lady Caroline Sellwood, who, although not a near relation, is about the only woman in London with our blood in her veins. She will want to see you. What's the matter?"
Jack's pipe had gone out in his hand; and there he stood, a pillar of perspiring bewilderment.
"A party!" he murmured. "At this time o' night!"
Claude laughed.
"It's not ten o'clock yet; if I'm there before half-past eleven I shall be too early."
"I give you best," said Jack, shaking his head, and putting another light to his pipe. "It licks me! Who's the madman who gives parties in the middle of the night?"
"My dear fellow, everybody does! In this case it's a woman: the Countess of Darlingford."
"A live Countess!"
"Well, but you're a live Duke."
"But—I'm—a live—Dook!"