'No, no, not willingly. Dear Oisin, he has always my approval in
everything he does. He is my child--my one child--my big child--so I
tell him often.'

'But these water-colours. I really must have a good look at them
by-and-by. And they are so prettily and tastefully framed--so unlike the
sort of frame one commonly sees in London houses.'

'The frames--yes--well, I make them to please myself and Oisin.'

'You make them yourself.'

'Oh, yes; I am fond of frame-making, and doing all sorts of jobs of that
kind.'

By this time they had reached the dining-room. It was a very pretty
little room, its walls not papered, but painted a soft amber colour. No
pictures were on the walls.

'I like the idea of your walls,' Ericson said. 'The walls are themselves
the decoration.'

'Yes,' she said, 'that was exactly our idea--let the colour be the
decoration; but I don't know that I ever heard anyone discover the idea
before. People generally ask me why I don't have pictures on the
dining-room walls, and then I have to explain as well as I can that the
colour is decoration enough.'

'And then, I suppose, some of them look amazed, and can't understand how
you----'

'Oh, indeed, yes,' she answered.

The dinner was simple and unpretentious, but excellent, almost perfect
in its way. A clear soup, a sole, an entree or two, a bit of venison, a
sweet--with good wines, but not too many of them.

'You have a good cook, Mrs. Sarrasin,' the Dictator said.

'I am made proud by your saying so. We don't keep a cook--I do it all
myself--am very fond of cooking.'

The Dictator looked round at her in surprise. Was this a jest? Oh, no;
there was no jesting expression on Mrs. Sarrasin's face. She was merely
making a statement of fact. Ericson began to suspect that the one thing
which the lady had least capacity for making, or, perhaps, for
understanding, was a jest. But he was certainly amazed at the
versatility of her accomplishments, and he frankly told her so.

'You see, we have but a small income,' she explained quietly, 'and I
like to do all I can; and Oisin likes my cookery--he is used to it. We
only keep two maids and this man'--alluding to the momentarily absent
attendant--'and he was an old soldier of Oisin's. I will tell you his
story some time--it is interesting in its way.'

'I think everything in this house is interesting,' the Dictator declared
in all sincerity.

Captain Sarrasin talked but little. He was quite conte