"Cospetto!" muttered De L'Orme. "En voilà une autre."
In the meantime the travellers had studied the card with infinite satisfaction.
"A duke!" said Miss Jones. "I never saw a duke before."
"A duke he is, indeed," replied the Colonel; "and one of the first dukes in France, I assure you. Young, handsome, and devilish rich I've no doubt. What think you of him instead of the old Marquis?"
"Perhaps he won't think of me," said Miss Jones.
"I'll answer for that," returned the Colonel. "What is he coming to call on us for? Not to see me you may take your davy."
The Colonel held some debate with himself the next morning whether it would be advisable to await the Duke's visit, or to go out and leave Miss Jones to receive him alone; and after a due calculation of probabilities, he resolved on the latter. Miss Jones was extremely clever indeed for an extempore Miss Jones, and had a natural genius for her part; and though certainly she was singularly ignorant, and the Duke singularly fascinating, he relied on her beauty to charm, and her ambition to preserve.
