Dawson was plainly in the interests of my cousin.
'And when can I expect to see my great-uncle, the Count ?' said I.
In the evening, I was told; in the meantime he would show me to my room, which had been long prepared for me, and I should be expected to dine in about an hour with the doctor, if my lordship had no objections.
My lordship had not the faintest.
'At the same time,' I said, 'I have had an accident: I have unhappily lost my baggage, and am here in what I stand in.

I don't know if the doctor be a formalist, but it is quite impossible I should appear at table as I ought.' He begged me to be under no anxiety.

'We have been long expecting you,' said he.

'All is ready.' Such I found to be the truth.

A great room had been prepared for me; through the mullioned windows the last flicker of the winter sunset interchanged with the reverberation of a royal fire; the bed was open, a suit of evening clothes was airing before the blaze, and from the far corner a boy came forward with deprecatory smiles.