He gave orders to Luigi and his people to follow him to Rosemount
with all practicable speed, and having left a note for his host with the
usual excuse, he mounted his horse, and in half an hour's time, with a
countenance like a stormy sea, was galloping through the park gates of
Dacre.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
_'If She Be Not Fair For Me.'_
THE day after the arrival of the Duke of St. James at Cleve Park,
his host, Sir Lucius Grafton, received the following note from Mrs.
Dallington Vere:
'Castle Dacre,-------, 182--.
'My dear Baronet,
'Your pigeon has flown, otherwise I should have tied this under his
wing, for I take it for granted he is trained too dexterously to alight
anywhere but at Cleve.
'I confess that in this affair your penetration has exceeded mine.
I hope throughout it will serve you as well. I kept my promise, and
arrived here only a few hours after him. The prejudice which I had long
observed in the little Dacre against your protege was too marked
to render any interference on my part at once necessary, nor did I
anticipate even beginning to give her good advice for a month to come.
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