ation.

"He thinks well of it, Mr. Romaine. He begs to join himself to that
circle of admirers which you indicate to exist already."

CHAPTER XIX

THE DEVIL AND ALL AT AMERSHAM PLACE

Never did two human creatures get to their feet with more alacrity than
the lawyer and myself. We had locked and barred the main gates of the
citadel; but unhappily we had left open the bath-room sally-port; and
here we found the voice of the hostile trumpets sounding from within,
and all our defences taken in reverse. I took but the time to whisper
Mr. Romaine in the ear: "Here is another tableau for you!" at which he
looked at me a moment with a kind of pathos, as who should say, "Don't
hit a man when he's down." Then I transferred my eyes to my enemy.

He had his hat on, a little on one side: it was a very tall hat, raked
extremely, and had a narrow curling brim. His hair was all curled out in
masses like an Italian mountebank--a most unpardonable fashion. He
sported a huge tippeted overcoat of frieze, such as watchmen wear, only
the inside was lined with costly furs, and he kept it half open to
display the exquisite linen, the many-coloured waistcoat, and the
profuse jewellery of watch-chains and brooches underneath. The leg and
the ankle were turned to a miracle. It is out of the question that I
should deny the resemblance altogether, since it has been remarked by so
many different persons whom I cannot reasonably accuse of a conspiracy.
As a matter of fact, I saw little of it and confessed to nothing.
Certainly he was what some might call handsome, of a pictorial,
exuberant style of beauty, all attitude, profile, and impudence: a man
whom I could see in fancy parade on the grand stand at a race-meeting,
or swagger in Piccadilly, staring down the women, and stared at himself
with admiration by the coal porters. Of his frame of mind at that moment
his face offered a lively if an unconscious picture. He was lividly
pale, and his lip was caught up in a smile that could almost be called a
snarl, of a sheer, arid malignity that appalled me and yet put me on my
mettle for the encounter. He looked me up and down, then bowed and took
off his hat to me.

"My cousin, I presume?" he said.

"I understand I have that honour," I replied.

"The honour is mine," said he, and his voice shook as he said it.

"I should make you welcome, I believe," said I.

"Why?" he inquired. "This poor house has been my home for longer than I
care