Howard clutched his glass with dramatic intensity.

"Chateau Legrange, if I'm not mistaken, sir," he said; "but let it be

what it may, it's simply perfect."

"I'm glad. See here, now, it's understood between us that if there's

anything you want, anything you'd like altered, you'll say so, eh,

Stafford?" he said, with an affectionate anxiety. "I'm a

rough-and-ready kind of man, and anything pleases me; but you--ah,

well, you two have the right to be particular; and I'll ask you to ask

for just what you want--and be sure you get it."

Stafford glanced round the room with its costly appointments, and Sir

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Stephen caught the glance, and smiled.

"You're thinking--ah, well, no matter. Mr. Howard, try those

strawberries. I don't think they're forced. They tell me that they get

them on the slope even earlier than this. This port--now see how nice

the people in these parts are! this port came from the landlord of

the--the--yes, The Woodman Inn. He sent it with his respectful

compliments, saying you did him the honour to praise it last night. You

stayed there, I suppose? Surprisingly kind: quite a Spanish bit of

courtesy. I wrote Mr.--yes, Mr. Groves a note thanking him on your

behalf, and I sent him some dry sherry which Stenson here"--he smiled

at the butler--"tells me is rather good, eh, Stenson?"

The solemn gravity of Stenson's face did not relax in the slightest, as

he murmured: "Count de Meza's '84, sir."

"Right! So long as it was the best we had. You approve, Stafford, eh?"

Stafford nodded with something more than approval.

"Thank you, sir," he said, simply. "We admired Mr. Groves's port."

"He's a good fellow. I hope he'll enjoy the sherry. I shall take the

first opportunity of calling and expressing my sense of his

kindness--No more? Shall we have the coffee with the cigars in the

billiard room?"

The footmen escorted them through the billiard-room to the

smoking-room, only divided from it by a screen of Eastern fret-work

draped by costly hangings. There were inlaid tables and couches of

exquisite workmanship, and a Moresque cabinet, which the butler

unlocked and from which he took cigars and cigarettes.

Sir Stephen waved them to seats, and sank into a low chair with a sigh

of satisfaction and enjoyment. The footmen placed the exquisite

coffee-service of Limoges enamel on one of the tables, and, as they

left the room, Howard, as if he could not help himself, said: "This is a veritable Aladdin's Palace, Sir Stephen! Though I can

imagine that fabulous erection cannot have been as comfortable as

this."




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