tch-dogs. Was the proprietor afraid of thieves?

III.

THE moment we were introduced to the drawing-room, my suspicions of the
company we were likely to meet with were fully confirmed.

"Cards, billiards, and betting"--there was the inscription legibly
written on the manner and appearance of Captain Peterkin. The
bright-eyed yellow old lady who kept the boarding-house would have been
worth five thousand pounds in jewelry alone, if the ornaments which
profusely covered her had been genuine precious stones. The younger
ladies present had their cheeks as highly rouged and their eyelids
as elaborately penciled in black as if they were going on the stage,
instead of going to dinner. We found these fair creatures drinking
Madeira as a whet to their appetites. Among the men, there were two who
struck me as the most finished and complete blackguards whom I had ever
met with in all my experience, at home and abroad. One, with a brown
face and a broken nose, was presented to us by the title of "Commander,"
and was described as a person of great wealth and distinction in
Peru, traveling for amusement. The other wore a military uniform and
decorations, and was spoken of as "the General." A bold bullying manner,
a fat sodden face, little leering eyes, and greasy-looking hands, made
this man so repellent to me that I privately longed to kick him. Romayne
had evidently been announced, before our arrival, as a landed gentleman
with a large income. Men and women vied in servile attentions to him.
When we went into the dining-room, the fascinating creature who sat next
to him held her fan before her face, and so made a private interview of
it between the rich Englishman and herself. With regard to the dinner,
I shall only report that it justified Captain Peterkin's boast, in some
degree at least. The wine was good, and the conversation became gay to
the verge of indelicacy. Usually the most temperate of men, Romayne
was tempted by his neighbors into drinking freely. I was unfortunately
seated at the opposite extremity of the table, and I had no opportunity
of warning him.

The dinner reached its conclusion, and we all returned together, on
the foreign plan, to coffee and cigars in the drawing-room. The women
smoked, and drank liqueurs as well as coffee, with the men. One of them
went to the piano, and a little impromptu ball followed, the ladies
dancing with their cigarettes in their mouths. Keeping my eyes and
ears on the alert, I s