something about their having
supper, not in the English way but the French, same as they do at the
Catsare[2] in Paris. This pleased them all very much, and I could see
that the most part of them were not real ladies and gentlemen at all,
but riff-raff Bohemian stuff out for a spree, and determined to have
one. The supper itself was the most amusing affair you ever saw; for
what must they do but flop down on the floor just where they stood, not
minding the bare boards at all, and eat cold chicken and twist rolls
from paper bags the footman threw to them. As for the liquor, you
would have thought they never could have enough of it--but it's not for
me to say anything about that, seeing I had a bottle of the best to
myself down in the corner by the conservatory, and more than one paper
bag when the first was empty.

Now, this supper occupied them until nearly three in the morning. I
make out--as I had to do to the police--that it was just a quarter past
three when the real business began, and a pretty frightening business,
as my sequel will show. First it began with the sweepers, who swept up
the wreck of the vittals with long brooms, and sprinkled scented water
afterwards to lay the dust. Then the musicians played a mournful sort
of tune, and after that, what do you think?--why, in came a number of
stage carpenters, who began to hang the whole place with black.

I have told you already that it was an empty house and not a stick of
furniture in it, save what we carried there--so you will see that all
this affair must have been arranged a long time before, for the black
hangings were all made to fit the room, and upon them they hung black
candlesticks with yellow candles in them--as melancholy as those used
for a funeral, and just the same kind, so far as I could see. This
interested the company very much. I could hear all sorts of remarks
from the riff-raff who were making love on the stairs; and presently
they all crowded into the room and listened to Lord Crossborough while
he made them a speech.

Let me confess that what I know about this speech I learned chiefly
from the newspapers. His lordship spoke of his family affairs, and
spoke of them in a way that might very well astonish the company.

To begin with, he mentioned his own eccentricities during the last five
months, when, as he reminded them, he had retired from public life and
gone down to Hertfordshire to found an academy where, with a few
conviv