"Really," he replied, "there is not anything so very extraordinary about it, is there? Mr. Seaman, my partner in one or two mining enterprises, took me to call upon him. He is very interested in East Africa, politically and as a sportsman. Our conversations seemed to interest him and led to a certain intimacy--of which I may say that I am proud. I have the greatest respect and liking for the Prince."
"So have I," Caroline agreed. "I think he's charming. Henry declares that he must be either a fool or a knave."
"Henry is blinded by prejudice," Dominey declared a little impatiently. "He cannot imagine a German who feasts with any one else but the devil."
"Don't get annoyed, dear," she begged, resting her fingers for a moment upon his coat sleeve. "I admire the Prince immensely. He is absolutely the only German I ever met whom one felt instinctively to be a gentleman.--Now what are you smiling at?"
Dominey turned a perfectly serious face towards her. "Not guilty," he pleaded.
"I saw you smile."
"It was just a quaint thought. You are rather sweeping, are you not, Caroline?"
"I'm generally right," she declared.--"To return to the subject of Stephanie."
"Well?"
"Do you know whom she mistook you for in the Carlton grill room?"
"Tell me?" he answered evasively.
"She mistook you for a Baron Leopold Von Ragastein," Caroline continued drily. "Von Ragastein was her lover in Hungary. He fought a duel with her husband and killed him. The Kaiser was furious and banished him to East Africa."
Dominey picked up his shooting-stick and handed his gun to Middleton. The beaters were through the wood.
"Yes, I remember now," he said. "She addressed me as Leopold."
"I still don't see why it was necessary to invite her here," his companion observed a little petulantly. "She may--call you Leopold again!"
"If she does, I shall be deaf," Dominey promised. "But seriously, she is a cousin of the Princess Terniloff, and the two women are devoted to one another. The Princess hates shooting parties, so I thought they could entertain one another."
"Bosh! Stephanie will monopolise you all the time! That's what's she's coming for."
"You are not suggesting that she intends seriously to put me in the place of my double?" Dominey asked, with mock alarm.