THE HOTEL AT CHASTEL John was fast finding that in a crowded country like Europe, suddenly ravaged by war, nothing was more common than abandoned houses.

People were continually fleeing at a moment's warning.

He had already made use of two or three, at a time when they were needed most, and here was another awaiting him.

Before he pushed open the door he had already read above it, despite the incrustations of snow, the sign, "Hotel de l'Europe," and he felt intuitively that they were coming into good quarters.

He was so confident of it that his cheerful mood deepened, turned in fact into joyousness.
As he held open the door he took off his cap, bowed low and said: "Enter my humble hotel, Madame la Princesse.