“I fear that I must refuse Sir Keith’s invitation. If he wants to see me, he must come here.”
“The foreign secretary come to you!” the Earl cried in an amazed tone.
“Yes. But you may tell him that his visit will be a useless one.”
“Gaunt, I don’t understand you. I think you must be mad.”
“Let us join the others,” Lady Mildred cried hurriedly, for she saw a glint appear in her husband’s eye, and she had no wish that they should quarrel.
“Very well, dear,” Gaunt said with a laugh, and the Earl followed them slowly.
During the rest of the evening there was no further reference to the subject, but Gaunt now and then caught Lord Lynton looking at him with a curious expression in his eyes.
In the morning the two men met in the library where the Earl was surrounded by the morning papers, most of which bore evidence of having been impatiently thrown aside.
“Gaunt, you must do something. The papers are making a feature of this Amanti business, and it ought to be stopped. Get your lawyer man to threaten them with a libel action.”
“For telling the truth. No, I intend to let them go their own way.”