Horace advanced to receive them; he felt he was in for it now, and the
only course left him was to put as good a face as he could on the
matter, and trust to luck to pull him through without discovery or
disaster.

CHAPTER IX

"PERSICOS ODI, PUER, APPARATUS"

"So you've found your way here at last?" said Horace, as he shook hands
heartily with the Professor and Mrs. Futvoye. "I can't tell you how
delighted I am to see you."

As a matter of fact, he was very far from being at ease, which made him
rather over-effusive, but he was determined that, if he could help it,
he would not betray the slightest consciousness of anything _bizarre_ or
unusual in his domestic arrangements.

"And these," said Mrs. Futvoye, who was extremelly stately in black,
with old lace and steel embroidery--"these are the bachelor lodgings you
were so modest about! Really," she added, with a humorous twinkle in her
shrewd eyes, "you young men seem to understand how to make yourselves
comfortable--don't they, Anthony?"

"They do, indeed," said the Professor, dryly, though it manifestly cost
him some effort to conceal his appreciation. "To produce such results as
these must, if I mistake not, have entailed infinite research--and
considerable expense."

"No," said Horace, "no. You--you'd be surprised if you knew how little."

"I should have imagined," retorted the Professor, "that _any_ outlay on
apartments which I presume you do not contemplate occupying for an
extended period must be money thrown away. But, doubtless, you know
best."

"But your rooms are quite wonderful, Horace!" cried Sylvia, her charming
eyes dilating with admiration. "And where, _where_ did you get that
magnificent dressing-gown? I never saw anything so lovely in my life!"

She herself was lovely enough in a billowy, shimmering frock of a
delicate apple-green hue, her only ornament a deep-blue Egyptian scarab
with spread wings, which was suspended from her neck by a slender gold
chain.

"I--I ought to apologise for receiving you in this costume," said
Horace, with embarrassment; "but the fact is, I couldn't find my evening
clothes anywhere, so--so I put on the first things that came to hand."

"It is hardly necessary," said the Professor, conscious of being
correctly clad, and unconscious that his shirt-front was bulging and his
long-eared white tie beginning to work up towards his left jaw--"hardly
necessary to offer any apology for the simplicity of your