the color was
high in his face as he opened the door. But when he had done so, he saw
that the count was not alone. A gentleman was with him whom he did not
introduce to Harry, and before whom Harry could not say that which he
had to communicate.

"Pardon me," said the count, "but we are in a railroad hurry. Nobody
ever was in such a haste as I and my friend. You are not engaged
to-morrow? No, I see. You dine with me and my friend at the Blue Posts.
You know the Blue Posts?"

Harry said he did not know the Blue Posts.

"Then you shall know the Blue Posts. I will be your instructor. You
drink claret. Come and see. You eat beefsteaks. Come and try. You love
one glass of port wine with your cheese. No. But you shall love it when
you have dined with me at the Blue Posts. We will dine together after
the English way--which is the best way in the world when it is quite
good. It is quite good at the Blue Posts--quite good! Seven o'clock. You
are fined when a minute late; an extra glass of port wine a minute. Now
I must go. Ah; yes. I am ruined already."

Then Count Pateroff, holding his watch in his hand, bolted out of the
room before Harry could say a word to him.

He had nothing for it but to go to the dinner, and to the dinner he
went. On that same evening, the evening of the day on which he had seen
Sophie and her brother, he wrote to Lady Ongar, using to her the same
manner of writing that she had used to him, and telling her that he had
done his best; that he had now seen whom he had been desired to see, but
that he had not been able to speak to him. He was, however, to dine with
him on the following day, and would call in Bolton Street as soon as
possible after that interview.

Exactly at seven o'clock, Harry, having the fear of the threatened fine
before his eyes, was at the Blue Posts; and there, standing in the
middle of the room, he saw Count Pateroff. With Count Pateroff was the
same gentleman whom Harry had seen at the Adelphi, and whom the count
now introduced as Colonel Schmoff; and also a little Englishman with a
knowing eye and a bull-dog neck, and whiskers cut very short and trim--a
horsey little man, whom the count also introduced. "Captain Boodle says
he knows a cousin of yours, Mr. Clavering."

Then Colonel Schmoff bowed, never yet having spoken a word in Harry's
hearing, and our friend Doodles with glib volubility told Harry how
intimate he was with Archie, and how he knew Sir Hugh, and how he had