of the Tsar were returned to me, and I was politely
told to leave. Japan wanted neither the friendship
of Russia nor her gimcracks. That, senorita, is the
history of the first Russian Embassy--for the tenta-
tive visit of Adam Lanxmann, twelve years before,
can be dignified by no such title--to Oriental waters.
It is to be hoped that Count Golofkin, who was to
undertake a similar mission to China, has met with
a better fate."

Underneath the polished armour of a man who
was a courtier when he chose and the dominating
spirit always, he was hot and quick of temper. His
light cold eyes glowed with resentment at the danc-
ing lights in hers, as he cynically gave her a bald
abstract of the unfortunate mission. He reflected
that commonly he would have fitted a different
mask to the ugly skull of fact, but this young bar-
barian, as he chose to regard her, excited the ele-
mental truth in him, defying him to appear at his
worst. He was astonished to see her eyes suddenly
soften and her mouth tremble.

"It must have been a hateful experience--hate-
ful!" Her voice, beginning on its usual low soft
note, rose to a hoarse pitch of indignation. "I
should have killed somebody! To be a man, and
strong, and caressed all one's life by fortune--and
to be as helpless as an Indian! Madre de dios!"