were leaving, my secretary and my valet put in an appearance, having
been summoned from Vienna the day before. I confess I was glad to see
them. The thought of spending a second night in that limitless
bed-chamber, with all manner of night-birds trying to get in at the
windows, was rather disturbing, and I welcomed my retainers with open
arms.

My first night had been spent in a huge old bed, carefully prepared
for occupancy by Herr Schmick's frau; and the hours, which never were
so dark, in trying to fathom the infinite space that reached above me
to the vaulted ceiling. I knew there was a ceiling, for I had seen its
beams during the daylight hours, but to save my soul I couldn't imagine
anything so far away as it seemed to be after the candles had been
taken away by the caretaker's wife, who had tucked me away in the bed
with ample propriety and thoroughness combined.

Twice during that interminable night I thought I heard a baby crying.
So it is not unreasonable to suppose that I was _more_ than glad
to see Poopendyke clambering up the path with his typewriter in one
hand and his green baise bag in the other, followed close behind by
Britton and the Gargantuan brothers bearing trunks, bags, boxes and
my golf clubs.

"Whew!" said Poopendyke, dropping wearily upon my doorstep--which, by
the way, happens to be a rough hewn slab some ten feet square surmounted
by a portcullis that has every intention of falling down unexpectedly
one of these days and creating an earthquake. "Whew!" he repeated.

My secretary is a youngish man with thin, stooping shoulders and a
habit of perpetually rubbing his knees together when he walks. I shudder