The good-natured duchess struck him on the shoulder with her fan. "Fudge!" she cried. "Her brother? I don't believe it."
"My dear duchess," Coke remonstrated. "Half a dozen witnesses are prepared to swear to it."
"I don't believe it any the more for that!"
"You think she's unhappy?"
"I am sure of it."
"Well," Sir Hervey answered, and for a moment a gleam which the duchess could not interpret, shone in his eyes, "wait six months! If she is not happy then--I mean," he added, hastily correcting himself, "if she does not look happy then, I have made a mistake."
The duchess stared. "Or she?"
"No, I," he answered, almost in a whisper. "I only, duchess."
She nodded, understanding somewhat; not all. "Oh!" she said; and looked him over, considering what kind of a lover she would have thought him in the old days when all men presented themselves in that capacity, and were measured by maiden eyes. She found him satisfactory. "What are your plans?" she said.
"I am going to Coke Hall to-night, to give the necessary orders. There are changes to be made."