Page:The Duke Decides (1904).djvu/221

 still think there are too many women in the business, but you ain’t one of ’em.”

“Thank you,” Sybil returned, drily. “And, that being so, wouldn’t it be a good plan to ask a woman to help you, on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief, you know?’

The General shot a rather shamefaced glance at the firm mouth and steadfast eyes of this plucky young enthusiast, and thereupon he decided to enlist her as an adviser in the more intricate questions that vexed him. There was the chance that woman’s wit would fathom woman’s guile, and tell him why Mrs. Talmage Eglinton should want to point the index of suspicion at Ziegler, who was probably her confrére in crime. Woman’s wit might even tell him why his Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir, engaged in such a simple ducal pastime as making sheep’s-eyes at a pretty American girl, should yet recoil abashed whenever Leonie turned her frankly responsive but puzzled gaze on him. Above all, the course proposed would enable this brave English girl to do what he was beginning to fear he could not do for her—to take care of herself.

“Yes,” he said, putting down his cup with