“Nettlebed would send off an express to my uncle on the instant!”
“I make no doubt he would, and so he may, but he won’t know where I have gone to, so much good may it do him!”
“You would not go without your valet!”
“Without anyone! Plain Mr. Dash, of Nowhere in Particular! Gideon told me to try it, and, by God, I will!”
“No, Gilly, you must not! I wish I had not said a word to you about it!”
The Duke laughed at him. “Matt, you fool! I am not going into a lion’s den! Besides, it will only be for a day or two. I don’t mean to be lost for ever, you know!”
“No, but—What if Liversedge recognizes you? He might well!”
The Duke frowned, over this for a moment or two. “But I don’t think he will,” he said at last. “If he was prowling round Oxford when I was up, he may have seen me, but I have altered considerably since then, you know. And I only came back to England last year, and have been at Sale for the better part of my life since then.”
“You were in London in the spring!”
“To be sure I was, but not in any company that Liversedge keeps, I’ll swear! If you saw me once in the street, would you know me again, beyond question? Now, if I were a big, handsome fellow like Gideon—! But I am not, Matt! You must own I am not! Has not your father said times out of mind that it is a sad pity I am such an insignificant figure of a man?”