“The Duke? No. Countess Alexia of Rohnburg is suing the Daily Comet for libel.”
“Ah! Yes; I anticipated that. The position has been forced upon her. The innuendoes were unmistakable. It is an ugly position for her, though.”
“Particularly, if, as Bowyer assures me, she is absolutely innocent in the matter.”
“So? He says that. And believes it?”
“Certainly, from his manner. The Countess is the victim, it appears, of a suspicion, coloured, unfortunately, by unlucky coincidences.”
“H’m! She is bound to make an effort to put herself right, even by challenging the Daily Comet to a legal duel, poor woman,” Gastineau commented thoughtfully, as he seemed to weigh the Countess’s chances in the professional balance. “You are, of course, briefed for her?”
“Yes; it is a fine opportunity for us—eh?”
“You could not wish for a better. You know the Countess?”
“I have met her and her brother, but don’t know much of them. They seemed very much liked and quite popular—but, of course, Gastineau, you must have known them. They have been over here a good many years now.”
The grey eyes from the couch shot a cross-examiner’s glance at Herriard; then reassumed their former expression of quietly alert interest.