You see!" As he spoke, the central portion of the flooring flew up, and a most beautiful tortoise-shell-plated billiard-table rose up to its proper position.
He pressed a second spring, and a bagatelle-table appeared in the same fashion.

"You may have card-tables or what you will by setting the levers in motion," he remarked.

"But all this is very trifling.

Perhaps we may find something in the museum which may be of more interest to you." He led the way into another chamber, which was furnished in antique style, with hangings of the rarest and richest tapestry.

The floor was a mosaic of coloured marbles, scattered over with mats of costly fur.
There was little furniture, but a number of Louis Quatorze cabinets of ebony and silver with delicately-painted plaques were ranged round the apartment.
"It is perhaps hardly fair to dignify it by the name of a museum," said Raffles Haw.