This was an unhoped-for lead. The Duchess walked warily.
«Dear boy,» she said, «I am so glad you met him, Mr. Milligan. Both my sons are a great comfort to me, you know, though, of course, Gerald is more conventional — just the right kind of person for the House of Lords, you know, and a splendid farmer. I can't see Peter down at Denver half so well, though he is always going to all the right things in town, and very amusing sometimes, poor boy.»
«I was very much gratified by Lord Peter's suggestion,» pursued Mr. Milligan, «for which I understand you are responsible, and I'll surely be very pleased to come any day you like, though I think you're flattering me too much.»
«Ah, well,» said the Duchess, «I don't know if you're the best judge of that, Mr. Milligan. Not that I know anything about business myself,» she added. «I'm rather old-fashioned for these days, you know, and I can't pretend to do more than know a nice man when I see him; for the other things I rely on my son.»
The accent of this speech was so flattering that Mr. Milligan purred almost audibly, and said:
«Well, Duchess, I guess that's where a lady with a real, beautiful, old-fashioned soul has the advantage of these modern young blatherskites — there aren't many men who wouldn't be nice — to her, and even then, if they aren't rock-bottom she can see through them.»
«But that leaves me where I was,» thought the Duchess. «I believe,» she said aloud, «that I ought to be thanking you in the name of the vicar of Duke's Denver for a very munificent cheque which reached him yesterday for the Church Restoration Fund. He was so delighted and astonished, poor dear man.»
«Oh, that's nothing,» said Mr. Milligan, «we haven't any fine old crusted buildings like yours over on our side, so it's a privilege to be allowed to drop a little kerosene into the worm-holes when we hear of one in the old country suffering from senile decay. So when your lad told me about Duke's Denver I took the liberty to subscribe without waiting for the Bazaar.»
«I'm sure it was very kind of you,» said the Duchess. «You are coming to the Bazaar, then?» she continued, gazing into his face appealingly.
«Sure thing,» said Mr. Milligan, with great promptness. «Lord Peter said you'd let me know for sure about the date, but we can always make time for a little bit of good work anyway. Of course I'm hoping to be able to avail myself of your kind invitation to stop, but if I'm rushed, I'll manage anyhow to pop over and speak my piece and pop back again.»