he beggar belong to?" A
question more easily asked than answered: at all events, it was one
which the Captain found himself unable to solve to his own satisfaction.
For a few minutes they smoked in silence.

"Do you travel far, to-day?" asked the stranger at length. "Are you
going across the Border?"

"The end of my journey is Stapleton, Lord Barnstake's place, and not a
great way from Edinburgh. Shall I have the pleasure of your company as
far as I go by rail?"

"Ah, no, sir, not so far as that. Only to--. There I must leave you, and
take the train for Windermere. I live on the banks of your beautiful
lake. Permettez-moi, monsieur," and with a movement that was a
combination of a shrug, a grimace and a bow, the stranger drew a
card-case from one of his pockets, and, extracting a card therefrom,
handed it to Ducie.

The Captain took it with a bow, and, sticking his glass in his eye,
read:--

_____________________________________
| |
| |
| M. PAUL PLATZOFF. |
| |
| |
|_Bon Repos, |
| Windermere._ |
|___________________________________|

The Captain in return handed over his pasteboard credential, and, this
solemn rite being accomplished, conversation was resumed on more easy
and agreeable terms.

"I daresay you are puzzling your brains as to my nationality," said
Platzoff, with a smile. "I am not an Englishman; that you can tell from
my accent. I am not a Frenchman, although I write 'monsieur' before my
name. Still less am I either a German or an Italian. Neither am I a
genuine Russian, although I look to Russia as my native country. In
brief, my father was a Russian, my mother was a Frenchwoman, and I was
born on board a merchantman during a gale of wind in the Baltic."

"Then I should call you a true cosmopolitan--a genuine citizen of the
world," remarked Ducie, who was amused with his new friend's frankness.

"In ideas I strive to be such, but it is difficult at all times to
overcome the prejudices of education and early training," answered
Platzoff. "You, sir, are, I presume, in the army?"

"Formerly I was in the army, but I sold out nearly a dozen years ago,"
answered Ducie, drily. "Does this fellow expect me to imitate