“But if I need you, Madeline?”
She shook her head. “Transfer the game to Paris, or any place outside Valeria, and I will gladly be your partner.”
He took her hand. “Will nothing persuade you?”
She faced him instantly. “Nothing, my lord, nothing, so long as Frederick is king.”
The Duke lifted her hand and tapped it softly against his cheek.
“Tres bien ma chère, tres bien,” he said; then frowned, as Mrs. Spencer’s maid entered.
“Pour Monsieur le Duc,” she curtsied.
Lotzen took the card from the salver and turned it over.
“I will see him at once,” he said; “have him shown to my private cabinet.... It is Bigler,” he explained.
“Why not have him here?”