[Loud shouts and wild laughter from the street. HORACE, ALMERIC, and
LADY CREECH set their papers down in their laps and turn toward the
door.]

MARIANO. Ha! He return from the kitchen with those national dish.

ETHEL [glancing in the doorway]. How horrid!

[MICHELE backs out on the stoop from the doorway laughing, carrying a
platter of ham and eggs.]

MICHELE. He have gone to wash himself at the street fountain.

[Tumult outside reaches its height, the shouts of "Yanka Dooda!"
predominating.]

VASILI [laughing, clapping his hands]. Bravo! Bravo!

ETHEL. Horrible!

[PIKE enters from the hotel. He is a youthful-looking American of about
thirty-five, good-natured, shrewd, humorous, and kindly. His voice has
the homely quality of the Central States, clear, quiet, and strong, with
a very slight drawl at times when the situation strikes him as humorous,
often exhibiting an apologetic character. He does not speak a dialect.
His English is the United States language as spoken by the average
citizen to be met on a daycoach anywhere in the Central States. He is
clean-shaven, and his hair, which shows a slight tendency to gray, is
neatly parted on the left side. His light straw hat is edged with a
strip of ribbon. The hat, like the rest of his apparel, is neither new