CHAPTER TWO

 “I was – upset,” she said in a voice he could hardly hear, “because they had – my dog killed.”

As she spoke the last word she put the handkerchief that the Duke had given her up to her eyes.

He realised that she was now making every effort to keep herself from sobbing hysterically.

“There is no hurry,” he said gently.  “We have lots of time.  Just tell me first of all why you were staying with Penelope’s parents and why your dog was with you.”

“He was the only thing I had left, the only thing – I had to love,” was the answer that came in jerky tones from behind her hands.

The Duke waited for her to go on and he did not continue the conversation.

After what seemed a long pause, the girl said,

“I am so sorry, terribly sorry – to behave like this.  I know men hate to see women crying.  But I loved him so much and he was only playing – he was not hurting the swans.”

The Duke was finding this difficult to follow.

And after a moment he said,

“You have not told me why you were staying with the Dentons.”

With a great effort the girl took the handkerchief from her eyes and replied,

“They were the only relations I could think of who I knew were somewhere near my home.”

“So, they are your relations?” the Duke repeated.

It was actually a question and after a moment the girl said,

“My mother was a cousin of Penelope’s mother and she had often said it would be nice for Penelope and me to be friends.  So when Mama died and I had nowhere else to go, I took Jo-Jo and arrived at Cousin Claud’s house.”

“Was he surprised to see you?” the Duke asked.

“He was very kind and felt that it would be nice for Penelope to have a friend with her and, of course, as there was nowhere else for me to go, I must stay with them,” the girl told him.

The Duke who had always thought of Penelope’s father as a decent sort of man could only murmur,

“That at least was kind.”

“Yes, it was, but Penelope did not want me.  She was angry when her friends, especially – if they were men, talked to me and she was always trying to put me in the background.”

The Duke thought that this was not surprising, but he enquired,

“Yet they gave you a home when you did not have one.”

“It was a home for me and I thought for Jo-Jo too, but I soon learnt Penelope did not like animals especially dogs and kept saying he had to live in a kennel – outside the house.”

She gave a little sob and with an effort continued,

“He had always slept on my bed – always.”

Now the tears were back again.

The Duke was silent for a long moment before he quizzed her,

“You must tell me what happened today.”

“Two friends of Penelope’s had dropped in to ask her to a party and she was telling them then that she was to be engaged to you,” the girl replied.  “At that moment, as they were standing by the window overlooking the garden, a man shouted out that – Jo-Jo was chasing the swans.”

“I suppose that the swans belonged to Penelope’s father?” the Duke enquired.

“Yes, and he was very proud of them.  But Jo-Jo was just having fun and making them and the little cygnets, which had been born a month ago, plunge into the water,” the girl said. “But he would not hurt them.  He has never hurt anything – ever since I have had him.”

She paused for breath.

The Duke was about to ask her a question when she went on,

“It was then that Penelope shouted, ‘kill him! Stop him! Shoot – him!