"Yes—quite well, thank you."
"Yes? You married Lady Blanche? But no, I should have heard of it."
"No; I did not marry. I am living in Eastroyd."
"Eastroyd! Where's that?"
"Don't you know?"
"Never heard of it before. Is it in England?"
Dick was growing angry; there was a sneer in every tone of the man's voice. He felt a mad desire to make the Count see that he had become a man of importance.
"Yes; it's in the North," he replied. "It's a huge town of a quarter of a million people. A great industrial centre."
"And what are you doing there?"
"I'm contemplating an invitation to become a Member of Parliament for the town. I'm assured that, if I accept, my return to the House of Commons is certain."