A slight pause followed his words, and Luttrell leaned across to whisper in His Grace's ear; from the Duke's other side Sir Edward bent his head forward till it almost touched those of his companions.

Blake watched, and was most foolishly impatient.
"Your Grace will never allow this!" he cried.
"Eh ?" said Albemarle, scowling at him.
"If you allow those two villains to consort together we are all undone," the baronet protested, and ruined what chance there was of Albemarle's not consenting.
It was the one thing needed to determine Albemarle.

Like the stubborn man he was, there was naught he detested so much as to have his course dictated to him.

More than that, in Sir Rowland's anxiety that Wilding and Trenchard should not be allowed to confer apart, he smoked a fear on Sir Rowland's part, based upon the baronet's consciousness of his own guilt.

He turned from him with a sneering smile, and without so much as consulting his associates he glanced at Wilding and waved his hand towards the door.
"Pray do as you suggest, Mr.Wilding," said he.