little verses. When it was
over, Sir Donald, who had been watching the singer, returned to the
sofa, where Robin Pierce was sitting with his eyes shut and, again
striking his fingers against the palms of his hands, said: "I have heard
that song at night on the Neva, and yet I never heard it before."

People began getting up to go away. It was past eleven o'clock. Sir
Donald and Robin Pierce stood together, saying good-bye to Lady Holme.
As she held out her hand to the former, she said:

"Oh, Sir Donald, you know Russia, don't you?"

"I do."

"Then I want you to tell me the name of that stuff they carry down
the Neva in boats--the stuff that has such a horrible smell. That song
always reminds me of it, and Fritz can't remember the name."

"Nor can I," said Sir Donald, rather abruptly. "Good-night, Lady Holme."

He walked out of the room, followed by Robin.

CHAPTER II

LORD HOLME'S house was in Cadogan Square. When Sir Donald had put on his
coat in the hall he turned to Robin Pierce and said:

"Which way do you go?"

"To Half Moon Street," said Robin.

"We might walk, if you like. I am going the same way.

"Certainly."

They set out slowly. It was early in the year. Showers of rain had
fallen during the day. The night was warm, and the damp earth in
the Square garden steamed as if it were oppressed and were breathing
wearily. The sky was dark and cloudy, and the air was impregnated with a
scent to which many things had contributed, each yielding a fragment of
the odour peculiar to it. Rain, smoke, various trees and plants, the wet
paint on a railing, the damp straw laid before the house of an invalid,
the hothouse flowers carried by a woman in a passing carriage--these and
other things were represented in the heavy atmosphere which was full of
the sensation of life. Sir Donald expanded his nostrils.

"London, London!" he said. "I should know it if I were blind."

"Yes. The London smell is not to be confused with the smell of any other
place. You have been back a good while, I believe?"

"Three years. I am laid on the London shelf now."

"You have had a long life of work--interesting work."

"Yes. Diplomacy has interesting moments. I have seen many countries. I
have been transferred from Copenhagen to Teheran, visited the Sultan of
Morocco at Fez, and--" he stopped. After a pause he added: "And now I
sit in London clubs and look out of bay windows."

They walked on slowly.

"Have you known our