Mary turned round and went up to the group.
"Yes," Aubrey Flood said; "yes, Miss Marriott, here indeed is his Grace, who has come to hear how we are going to attack him."
The duke looked at Flood with a half smile, there seemed to be something condescending in it, then he turned eagerly to Mary. "Oh, Miss Marriott," he said, "you cannot think how interesting all this is to me, and how grateful I am to you for enabling me to see it all."
He looked up and round, and there was something in his voice that showed he was alert and aware—aware and curious.
"We shall be about half an hour before we begin to read the play, your Grace," Aubrey Flood said. "Would you like to be shown over the theatre—that is, have you ever been over a theatre from the 'behind-the-scenes' point of view, as it were?"
"No, I have not," the duke answered, "and I should like to very much."
At the same moment the stage manager came hurrying up to Aubrey Flood. The actor turned to the duke and to Mary Marriott.
"Miss Marriott," he said, "would you show the duke something of the theatre? I must talk to Mr. Howard."
Mary and the duke moved away together.
"I don't quite know what to show you," she said, "and will you really be interested in the way we present our illusions?"