something a little out of the common. Do try one."

Robert lit the weed which was offered to him, and leaned back
luxuriously amid his cushions, gazing through the blue balmy fragrant
cloud-wreaths at the extraordinary man in the dirty pea-jacket who spoke
of millions as another might of sovereigns. With his pale face, his sad,
languid air, and his bowed shoulders, it was as though he were crushed
down under the weight of his own gold. There was a mute apology, an
attitude of deprecation in his manner and speech, which was strangely
at variance with the immense power which he wielded. To Robert the
whole whimsical incident had been intensely interesting and amusing. His
artistic nature blossomed out in this atmosphere of perfect luxury
and comfort, and he was conscious of a sense of repose and of absolute
sensual contentment such as he had never before experienced.

"Shall it be coffee, or Rhine wine, or Tokay, or perhaps something
stronger," asked Raffles Haw, stretching out his hand to what looked like
a piano-board projecting from the wall. "I can recommend the Tokay. I
have it from the man who supplies the Emperor of Austria, though I think
I may say that I get the cream of it."

He struck twice upon one of the piano-notes, and sat expectant. With a
sharp click at the end of ten seconds a sliding shutter flew open, and
a small tray protruded bearing two long tapering Venetian glasses filled
with wine.

"It works very nicely," said Raffles Haw. "It is quite a new thing--never
before done, as far as I know. You see the names of the various wines
and so on printed on the notes. By pressing the note down I complete an
electric circuit which causes the tap in the cellars beneath to remain
open long enough to fill the glass which always stands beneath it. The
glasses, you understand, stand upon a revolving drum, so that there must
always be one there. The glasses are then brought up through a pneumatic
tube, which is set working by the increased weight of the glass when the
wine is added to it. It is a pretty little idea. But I am afraid that I
bore you rather with all these petty contrivances. It is a whim of mine
to push mechanism as far as it will go."

"On the contrary, I am filled with interest and wonder," said Robert
warmly. "It is as if I had been suddenly whipped up out of prosaic old
England and transferred in an instant to some enchanted palace, some
Eastern home of the Genii. I could not have believed th