“That is what I want you to be,” the Duke said, “and that is the reason why I have asked you to help me in this matter.”
He thought as he spoke that most of his friends would not believe for a moment that he was interested only in Ilitta’s powers of perception rather than in her as a woman.
The thought struck him that, if she accepted, as she obviously intended to do, he would have to make some explanation to Captain Daltry.
Then with his usual ability to find a solution quickly to any problem, however complicated, he said,
“If you agree, I have an idea. You obviously cannot travel with me as yourself.”
“Why not?” Ilitta asked.
He realised once again that the question was entirely innocent.
It had not struck her for a moment that he was a man who might behave towards her in the same
