"You young rogue!" said the Duke quietly.
"I'll never do it again—never! Oh, have pity on me! If my father knew! Oh, let me off!" cried Bernard.
The Duke hesitated, and looked down on him, frowning and pulling at his moustache. Then, more quickly than one would have expected from so careless a trifler, his mind was made up.
"All right," he said slowly. "Just for this once . . . be off with you." And he jerked him to his feet and almost threw him into the outer hall.
"Thanks! . . . oh, thanks!" said Bernard.
The Duke shut the door and looked at Sonia, breathing quickly.
"Well? Did you ever see anything like that? That young fellow will go a long way. The cheek of the thing! Right under our very eyes! And this pendant, too: it would have been a pity to lose it. Upon my word, I ought to have handed him over to the police."
"No, no!" cried Sonia. "You did quite right to let him off—quite right,"
The Duke set the pendant on the ledge of the bureau, and came down the hall to Sonia.
"What's the matter?" he said gently. "You're quite pale."
"It has upset me . . . that unfortunate
