He noticed that a third cover had been laid at the table.

'That is for a friend of mine who came in about five minutes ago. Of
course I told him he must share our steak. He'll be here in a moment.'

'May I respectfully inquire his name?'

'Dimmock--Christian name Reginald; profession, English companion to
Prince Aribert of Posen. I met him when I was in St Petersburg with
cousin Hetty last fall. Oh; here he is. Mr Dimmock, this is my dear
father. He has succeeded with the steak.'

Theodore Racksole found himself confronted by a very young man, with
deep black eyes, and a fresh, boyish expression. They began to talk.

Jules approached with the steak. Racksole tried to catch the waiter's
eye, but could not. The dinner proceeded.

'Oh, Father!' cried Nella, 'what a lot of mustard you have taken!'

'Have I?' he said, and then he happened to glance into a mirror on his
left hand between two windows. He saw the reflection of Jules, who stood
behind his chair, and he saw Jules give a slow, significant, ominous
wink to Mr Dimmock--Christian name, Reginald.

He examined his mustard in silence. He thought that perhaps he had
helped himself rather plenteously to mustard.

Chapter Three AT THREE A.M.

MR REGINALD DIMMOCK proved himself, despite his extreme youth, to be
a man of the world and of experiences, and a practised talker.
Conversation between him and Nella Racksole seemed never to flag. They
chattered about St Petersburg, and the ice on the Neva, and the tenor
at the opera who had been exiled to Siberia, and the quality of Russian
tea, and the sweetness of Russian champagne, and various other aspects
of Muscovite existence. Russia exhausted, Nella lightly outlined her own
doings since she had met the young man in the Tsar's capital, and this
recital brought the topic round to London, where it stayed till the
final piece of steak was eaten. Theodore Racksole noticed that Mr
Dimmock gave very meagre information about his own movements, either
past or future. He regarded the youth as a typical hanger-on of Courts,
and wondered how he had obtained his post of companion to Prince Aribert
of Posen, and who Prince Aribert of Posen might be. The millionaire
thought he had once heard of Posen, but he wasn't sure; he rather
fancied it was one of those small nondescript German States of
which five-sixths of the subjects are Palace officials, and the rest
charcoal-burners or innkeepers. Until the meal was nearly ove