"And she will you?"

"I hope so!"

She leaned back in her chair. He could not altogether understand her
silence. Surely she could have no scruples?

"It seems to me," she said at last, "that I am to play your game for
nothing. I don't care so very much, after all, if he marries. He'd settle
all he could on me. In fact, I should have just as much claim on him as I
have now."

"I did not say that you should play it for nothing," he answered. "I want
us to understand each other, because I have an idea that you may be
seeing something of the Duchess at any moment. Let us put it this way.
Suppose I promise to give you a diamond necklace of the value of, say
five thousand pounds, the day I marry the Duchess!"

She rose and put pen and paper before him. He shook his head.

"I can't put an arrangement of that sort on paper," he protested. "You
must rely upon my word of honour."

She held out the pen to him.

"On paper, or the whole thing is off absolutely," she declared.

"You won't trust me?"

She looked at him.