He tapped smartly at the door.
Immediately it was opened by a graceful boy, dressed in a long, belted coat of dun-colour.

He had straight black hair, and eyes which one saw before one saw his face, and he gravely bowed to each of the party in turn before answering St.George's question.
"Assuredly," said the youth in perfect English, "enter." They found themselves in an ample room extending the full depth of the house; and partly because the light was dim and partly in sheer amazement they involuntarily paused as the door clicked behind them.
The room's contrast to the squalid neighbourhood was complete.

The apartment was carpeted in soft rugs laid one upon another so that footfalls were silenced.

The walls and ceiling were smoothly covered with a neutral-tinted silk, patterned in dim figures; and from a fluted pillar of exceeding lightness an enormous candelabrum shed clear radiance upon the objects in the room.

The couches and divans were woven of some light reed, made with high fantastic backs, in perfect purity of line however, and laid with white mattresses.