The Duke went on into the drawing-room. At the door Guerchard stopped and said: “I will just go and post my men, your Grace.”
“Very good,” said the Duke; and he went into the drawing-room.
He sat down, lighted a cigarette, and yawned. Then he took out his watch and looked at it.
“Another twenty minutes,” he said.
CHAPTER XIX
THE DUKE GOES
When Guerchard joined the Duke in the drawing-room, he had lost his calm air and was looking more than a little nervous. He moved about the room uneasily, fingering the bric-a-brac, glancing at the Duke and looking quickly away from him again. Then he came to a standstill on the hearth-rug with his back to the fireplace.
“Do you think it’s quite safe to stand there, at least with your back to the hearth? If Lupin dropped through that opening suddenly, he’d catch you from behind before you could wink twice,” said the Duke, in a tone of remonstrance.
“There would always be your Grace to come to my rescue,” said Guerchard; and there was an ambiguous note in his voice, while his piercing eyes now rested fixed on the Duke’s face. They seemed never to leave it; they explored, and explored it.
“It’s only a suggestion,” said the Duke.
“This is rather nervous work, don’t you know.”