wn tobacconist, and has
stood in the window of his shop nearly four months. These gentlemen"--he
waved his hand towards his two companions--"are well aware of the fact and
can vouch--"

"That is all the same to me," interrupted the porter. "This is the Gigerl
which was stolen from me on New Year's eve--"

"I repeat," said the Count, with dignity, "that you are altogether
mistaken. I will trouble you to leave us in peace and to make no more
disturbance, where you are evidently in error."

His coolness exasperated the porter, who seemed very sure of what he
asserted.

"That is what we shall see," he retorted in a menacing tone. "Meanwhile it
does not occur to me to leave you in peace and to make no more trouble. I
tell you that this Gigerl was stolen from me on New Year's eve. I know it
well enough, for I had to pay for it."

"How can you prove that this is the one?" inquired the Cossack, who was
beginning to lose his temper.

"You have nothing to say about it," said the porter, sharply. "I have to
do with this man"--he pointed down at the Count--"who has brought the doll
here, and pretends to know where it comes from."

"Kerl!" exclaimed the Count, angrily. "Fellow! I am not accustomed to
being called 'man,' or to having my word doubted. You had better be
civil."

"Then it is high time that you grew used to it," returned the porter,
growing more and more excited. "The police do not overwhelm fellows of
your kind with politeness."

"Fellows?" cried the Count, losing his self-control altogether at being
called by the name he had just applied to the porter. Without a moment's
hesitation, he sprang from his chair, upsetting it behind him, and took
the burly German by the throat.

"Call a policeman, Anton!" shouted the latter to one of his companions, as
he closed with his antagonist.

The two other porters had risen from their places as soon as the Count had
laid his hands on their friend, and the one who answered to the name of
Anton promptly trotted towards the door, his heavy tread making the whole
room shake as he ran. The other came up quickly and attacked the Count
from behind, when Dumnoff, aroused at last to the pleasant consciousness
that a real fight was going on, brought down his clenched fist with such
earnestness of purpose on the top of the second porter's crown that the
latter reeled backwards and fell across the Count's chair in an attitude
rendered highly uncomfortable by the fact that the said