dismissed, said the coloured servant: "I will show you to your rooms, if
you will allow me to do so. The man appointed to wait upon you will
follow with your luggage in a minute or two."

He led the way, and Ducie followed in silence.

The tired Captain gave a sigh of relief and gratitude, and flung himself
into an easy-chair as the door closed behind his conductor. His two
rooms were _en suite_, and while as replete with comfort as the most
thorough-going Englishman need desire, had yet about them a touch of
lightness and elegance that smacked of a taste that had been educated on
the Continent, and was unfettered by insular prejudices.

"At Stapleton I had a loft that was hardly fit for a groom to sleep in;
here I have two rooms that a cardinal might feel proud to occupy. Vive
la Russie!"

M. Platzoff was waiting at the foot of the staircase when Ducie went
down. A cordial greeting passed between the two, and the host at once
led the way to the dining-room. Platzoff in his suit of black and white
cravat, with his cadaverous face, blue-black hair and chin-tuft, and the
elaborate curl on the top of his forehead, looked, at the first glance,
more like a ghastly undertaker's man than the host of an English country
house.

But a second glance would have shown you his embroidered linen and the
flashing gems on his fingers; and you could not be long with him without
being made aware that you were in the company of a thorough man of the
world--of one who had travelled much and observed much; of one whose
correspondents kept him au courant with all the chief topics of the day.