But before the dinner was over he made a great effort. 'Tregear,'
he said,--and even that was an effort, for he had never hitherto
mentioned the man's name without the formal Mister, 'Tregear, as
this is the first time you have sat at my table, let me be old-
fashioned, and ask you to drink a glass of wine with me.'
The glass of wine was drunk and the ceremony afforded infinite
satisfaction to one person there. Mary could not keep herself from
some expression of joy by pressing her finger for a moment against
her lover's arm. He, though not usually given to such
manifestations, blushed up to his eyes. But the feeling produced
on the company was solemn rather than jovial. Everyone there
understood it all. Mr Boncassen could read the Duke's mind down to
the last line. Even Mrs Boncassen was aware that an act of
reconciliation had been intended. 'When the governor drank that
glass of wine it seemed as though half the marriage ceremony had
been performed,' Gerald said to his brother that evening. When the
Duke's glass was replaced on the table, he himself was conscious
of the solemnity of what he had done, and was half ashamed of it.
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