The Indiscretion of the Duchess

Indiscretion of the Duchess, by
Anthony Hope

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Title: The Indiscretion of the Duchess
Author: Anthony Hope
Release Date: October 31, 2004 [EBook #13909] [Date last updated:
August 28, 2006]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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[Illustration: "I plucked him off the duke and flung him on his back on
the sands,"]

THE INDISCRETION OF THE DUCHESS
Being a Story Concerning Two Ladies, a Nobleman, and a Necklace
BY ANTHONY HOPE
AUTHOR OF "THE PRISONER OF ZENDA," ETC.
NEW YORK
1894

CONTENTS.
I. A MULTITUDE OF GOOD REASONS
II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A SUPPER-TABLE
III. THE UNEXPECTED THAT ALWAYS HAPPENED
IV. THE DUCHESS DEFINES HER POSITION
V. A STRATEGIC RETREAT
VI. A HINT OF SOMETHING SERIOUS
VII. HEARD THROUGH THE DOOR
VIII. I FIND THAT I CARE
IX. AN UNPARALLELED INSULT
X. LEFT ON MY HANDS
XI. A VERY CLEVER SCHEME
XII. AS A MAN POSSESSED

XIII. A TIMELY TRUCE
XIV. FOR AN EMPTY BOX
XV. I CHOOSE MY WAY
XVI. THE INN NEAR PONTORSON
XVII. A RELUCTANT INTRUSION
XVIII. A STRANGE GOOD HUMOR
XIX. UNSUMMONED WITNESSES
XX. THE DUKE'S EPITAPH
XXI. A PASSING CARRIAGE
XXII. FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE

THE INDISCRETION OF THE DUCHESS.
CHAPTER I.
A Multitude of Good Reasons.
In accordance with many most excellent precedents, I might begin by
claiming the sympathy due to an orphan alone in the world. I might
even summon my unguided childhood and the absence of parental
training to excuse my faults and extenuate my indiscretions. But the
sympathy which I should thus gain would be achieved, I fear, by
something very like false pretenses. For my solitary state sat very
lightly upon me--the sad events which caused it being softened by the
influence of time and habit--and had the recommendation of leaving me,
not only free to manage my own life as I pleased, but also possessed of
a competence which added power to my freedom. And as to the
indiscretions--well, to speak it in all modesty and with a becoming

consciousness of human frailty, I think that the undoubted
indiscretions--that I may use no harder term--which were committed in
the course of a certain fortnight were not for the most part of my doing
or contriving. For throughout the transactions which followed on my
arrival in France, I was rather the sport of circumstances than the
originator of any scheme; and the prominent part which I played was
forced upon me, at first by whimsical chance, and later on by the
imperious calls made upon me by the position into which I was thrust.
The same reason that absolves me from the need of excuse deprives me
of the claim to praise; and, looking back, I am content to find nothing
of which I need seriously be ashamed, and glad to acknowledge that,
although Fate chose to put me through some queer paces, she was not
in the end malevolent, and that, now the whole thing is finished, I have
no cause to complain of the ultimate outcome of it. In saying that, I
speak purely and solely for myself. There is one other for whom I
might perhaps venture to say the same without undue presumption, but
I will not; while for the rest, it must suffice for me to record their
fortunes, without entering on the deep and grave questions which are
apt to suggest themselves to anyone who considers with a thoughtful
mind the characters and the lives of those with whom he is brought in
contact on his way through the world. The good in wicked folk, the
depths in shallow folk, the designs of haphazard minds, the impulsive
follies of the cunning--all these exist, to be dimly discerned by any one
of us, to be ignored by none save those who are content to label a man
with the name of one quality and ignore all else in him, but to be traced,
fully understood, and intelligently shown forth only by the few who are
gifted to read and expound the secrets of human hearts. That is a gift
beyond my endowment, and fitted for a task too difficult for my hand.
Frankly, I did not, always and throughout, discern as clearly as I could
desire the springs on which the conduct of my fellow-actors turned; and
the account I have given of their feelings and