“Is the lady a widow?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“So that’s the nest Dan has got into at Osdene,” the Westerner said. And Galorey answered: “That is the nest.”
“And he has gone out there to-day—got a wire this morning.”
“The duchess has been in an awful funk,” said Galorey, “because Dan’s been stopping in London so long. She sent him a message, and as soon as Dan wired back that he was coming to the Park, I decided to come here and see you.”
Ruggles ruminated: “Has the duchess complications financially?”
“Ra-ther!” the other answered.
And Ruggles turned his broad, honest face full on Galorey: “Do you think she could be bought off?”
Galorey took his pipe out of his mouth.
“It depends on how far Dan has gone on with her. To be frank with you, Mr. Ruggles, it is a case of emotion on the part of the woman. She is really in love with Dan. Gad!” exclaimed the nobleman. “I have been on the point of turning the whole brood out of doors these last days. It was like imprisoning a mountain breeze in a charnel house—a woman with her scars and her experience and that boy—I don’t know where you’ve kept him, or how you kept him as he is, but he is as clear as water. I have talked to him and I know.”