hall be delighted,
certainly. But my determination to quit your house, to have no longer
anything in common with you, is irrevocable."

"And will you at least say why?"

He made a negative sign; he would not say.

For once the Irishman felt a genuine impulse of anger. His whole
face assumed a cunning, savage expression which would have very much
astonished those that only knew the good and loyal Jenkins; but he took
good care not to push further an explanation which he feared perhaps as
much as he desired it.

"Adieu," said he, half turning his head on the threshold. "And never
apply to us."

"Never," replied his stepson in a firm voice.

This time, when the doctor had said to Joey, "Place Vendome," the horse,
as though he had understood that they were going to the Nabob's, gave a
proud shake to his glittering curb-chains, and the brougham set off at
full speed, transforming each axle of its wheels into sunshine. "To
come so far to get a reception like that! A celebrity of the time to be
treated thus by that Bohemian! One may try indeed to do good!" Jenkins
gave vent to his anger in a long monologue of this character, then
suddenly rousing himself, exclaimed, "Ah, bah!" and what anxiety there
was remaining on his brow quickly vanished on the pavement of the Place
Vendome. Noon was striking everywhere in the sunshine. Issued forth from
behind its curtain of mist, luxurious Paris, awake and on its feet,
was commencing its whirling day. The shop-windows of the Rue de la
Paix shone brightly. The mansions of the square seemed to be ranging
themselves haughtily for the receptions of the afternoon; and, right at
the end of the Rue Castiglione with its white arcades, the Tuileries,
beneath a fine burst of winter sunshine, raised shivering statues, pink
with cold, amid the stripped trees.

A LUNCHEON IN THE PLACE VENDOME

There were scarcely more than a score of persons that morning in the
Nabob's dining-room, a dining-room in carved oak, supplied the previous
evening as it were by some great upholsterer, who at the same stroke had
furnished these suites of four drawing-rooms of which you caught sight
through an open doorway, the hangings on the ceiling, the objects of
art, the chandeliers, even the very plate on the sideboards and the
servants who were in attendance. It was obviously the kind of interior
improvised the moment he was out of the railway-train by a gigantic
_parvenu_ in haste to enjoy. Although aro