Page:The Duke Decides (1904).djvu/45

 When I’m a worn-out old buffer of sixty I shall be able to retire on a pension about equal to my present pay.”

“Then look here, Alec; chuck the public service and come to me,” said the Duke, eagerly. “I’ll give you eight hundred a year to begin with, and rises up to two thousand; and you can have the dower-house at Prior’s Tarrant to live in. Call yourself private secretary, bailiff, anything you please—only come. The fact is—well, I’ve been a bit shaken by—by what I’ve gone through. I want someone near me who’s more than a mere hireling.”

It was Forsyth’s turn to flush now, but with pleasure at the offer made to him. He accepted it in a few simple words, and the Duke rose and paid his score.

“Come with me to Pattisons’,” he said. “Then we’ll go on to Piccadilly and take possession.”

The business at the lawyers’, which consisted of little more than arranging future meetings, was soon finished, and the Duke and his new secretary took a fresh cab to the West End. As they bowled along Beaumanoir inquired further about his cousin Sybil, whom, owing to his absence in India and more latterly to