This chapter opens with a conversation between Tonk and Joseph. Tonk asks Joseph if he is "this absent- minded when he's with prince Theo" . Joseph tells him that he is, and Tonk says that he has something to ask him. He wants to know if he knows a man named Luke Christoph, who used to be a servant of his father, Duke Senior. Joseph says he does not know him, but he does know that Luke is in exile, and that he would like to know why he is asking him this question