He would take her ashore and perhaps then he would find out the secret which she had kept hidden for so long and which she had still not made up her mind to confide to him.
Perhaps then, the Duke told himself optimistically, when that barrier between them fell, she would feel herself closer to him than she was at the moment and the restrictions would fall one by one.
He was watching her while he thought it over and she was looking exceedingly lovely.
He suddenly felt such a desire to touch her that only years of self-discipline prevented him from putting out his hands, pulling her to her feet and taking her into his arms.
It had been an agony, and yet a joy, when a week ago in a small harbour in the South of Italy where they had rested for the night, a band consisting of two violins an
