ld have
considered dangerous and which he would have made his customary
instinctive preparations to combat.

He could not recall a similar instance in all the years of his recent
experience when he was constrained to recognize, nay, surrender to, a
diffusive impulse such as this curious stranger awakened in his mind.

In yielding to its insinuations, even to the extent already recorded, he
was agreeably conscious of a sort of guilty abandon which, at times,
stupefies the moral qualities ere delivering them into the hands of a
welcome invader.

For some time Robert, with the others, had enjoyed the entertainment
offered by this transformation of Satyr to Faun, and the inversion
advanced to still further degrees their curious regard of the "Sepoy," a
picturesque description bestowed upon him by the blase boarders.

Consequently, one evening, when, at the conclusion of the dinner, the
"Sepoy," in response to the invitation of Raikes, was seen to disappear
with the latter through the doorway which led to his apartments,
Robert's interest in the spectacle changed to genuine alarm, until a
moment's reflection upon his uncle's well-known ability to take care of
himself reassured him.

Intruding the door between themselves and all further speculation, the
strangely-assorted pair proceeded along a dimly-illumed hallway to a
room in which Raikes usually secluded himself.

As the Sepoy advanced, he could see that, with the exception of two
sleeping-chambers, revealed by their open doors, the apartment in which
he found himself was the only one where any kind of accommodation could
be found, as the balance of the house offered unmistakable evidences of
being unoccupied.

"Be seated, sir," croaked Raikes, with a voice strangely suggestive of a
raven attempting the modulations of some canary it had swallowed. "I do
not smoke myself, and, therefore, cannot provide you with that sort of
entertainment; still, I have no objection to you enjoying yourself in
that way if," with a cynical shrug of the shoulders by way of apology,
"you have come prepared."

Accepting this frank inhospitality in the spirit of its announcement,
the stranger, smiling with his curious eyes, produced two cigars, one of
which he offered to Raikes, and which was consistently and promptly
refused.

"I can't afford it," expostulated the latter. "I never indulge myself
even in temptation; the nearest I will approach to dissipation will be,
with your permis