homelike to be treated without formality. It is very kind of you, I'm
sure."

"But surely your name is Smith?" said she, looking very much surprised.

"Oh yes, my name is Smith: only of course--well, the tact is, I was just
wondering what to call you."

"My name is Edra," she replied, looking more bewildered than ever; and
from that moment the conversation, which had begun so favorably, was
nothing but a series of entanglements, from which I could only escape in
each case by breaking the threads of the subject under discussion, and
introducing a new one.






Chapter 7

The moment of retiring, to which I had been looking forward with
considerable interest as one likely to bring fresh surprises, arrived at
last: it brought only extreme discomfort. I was conducted (without a
flat candlestick) along an obscure passage; then, at right angles with
the first, a second broader, lighter passage, leading past a great many
doors placed near together. These, I ascertained later, were the
dormitories, or sleeping-cells, and were placed side by side in a row
opening on the terrace at the back of the house. Having reached the door
of my box, my conductor pushed back the sliding-panel, and when I had