orchestra was playing _A Summer Night in Munich_. In a moment
Jack and his wife were lost in the maze of gleaming shoulders and
white linen. It was a picture such as few men, once having witnessed
it, can forget. Here were the great men in the great world: this man
was an old rear-admiral, destined to become the nation's hero soon;
there, a famous general, of long and splendid service; celebrated
statesmen, diplomats, financiers; a noted English duke; a scion of
the Hapsburg family; an intimate of the German kaiser; a swart Jap; a
Chinaman with his peacock feather; tens of men whose lightest word
was listened to by the four ends of the world; representatives of all
the great kingdoms and states. The President and his handsome wife
had just left as we came, so we missed that formality, which detracts
from the pleasures of the ball-room.

"Who is that handsome young fellow over there, standing at the side
of the Russian ambassador's wife?" asked Nancy, pressing my arm.

"Where? Oh, he's Count Karloff (or something which sounds like it), a
wealthy Russian, in some way connected with the Russian government; a
diplomat and a capital fellow, they say. I have never met him. ...
Hello! there's a stunning girl right next to him that I haven't seen
before. ... Where are you going?"

Nancy had dropped my arm and was gliding kitty-corner fashion, across
the floor. Presently she and the stunning girl had saluted each other
after the impulsive fashion of American girls, and were playing cat-
in-the-cradle, to the amusement of those foreigners nearest. A nod,
and I was threading my way to Nancy's side.

"Isn't it glorious?" she began. "This is Miss Annesley, Charlie;