'False modesty is a sign of ill-breeding, from which my birth amply
protects me.'

Dr Porhoët looked up with a smile of irony.

'I wish Mr Haddo would take this opportunity to disclose to us the
mystery of his birth and family. I have a suspicion that, like the
immortal Cagliostro, he was born of unknown but noble parents, and
educated secretly in Eastern palaces.'

'In my origin I am more to be compared with Denis Zachaire or with
Raymond Lully. My ancestor, George Haddo, came to Scotland in the suite
of Anne of Denmark, and when James I, her consort, ascended the English
throne, he was granted the estates in Staffordshire which I still
possess. My family has formed alliances with the most noble blood of
England, and the Merestons, the Parnabys, the Hollingtons, have been
proud to give their daughters to my house.'

'Those are facts which can be verified in works of reference,' said
Arthur dryly.

'They can,' said Oliver.

'And the Eastern palaces in which your youth was spent, and the black
slaves who waited on you, and the bearded sheikhs who imparted to you
secret knowledge?' cried Dr Porhoët.

'I was educated at Eton, and I left Oxford in 1896.'

'Would you mind telling me at what college you were?' said Arthur.