head, I grant you; and a little too apt sometimes to be
suspicious of other people. But liberal--oh, give him his
due--liberal in a small way. Tips me with a sovereign now and
then. I take it--Lord bless you, I take it. What do you say? Has
he got any employment? Not he! Dabbles in chemistry (experiments,
and that sort of thing) by way of amusing himself; and tells the
most infernal lies about it. The other day he showed me a bottle
about as big as a thimble, with what looked like water in it, and
said it was enough to poison everybody in the hotel. What rot!
Isn't that the clock striking again? Near about bedtime, I should
say. Wish you good night."

There are our characters--drawn on the principle of justice
without mercy, by an impudent rascal who is the best valet in
England. Now you know what sort of persons we are; and now we may
go on again.




Rothsay and I parted, soon after our night at the theater. He
went to Civita Vecchia to join a friend's yacht, waiting for him
in the harbor. I turned homeward, traveling at a leisurely rate
through the Tyrol and Germany.

After my arrival in England, certain events in my life occurred
which did not appear to have any connection at the time. They
led, nevertheless, to consequences which seriously altered the
relations of happy past years between Rothsay and myself.