Constant-Scrappes have a very excellent library and a line of reading in
Abstract Morals in full calf that I should very much like to get at."

"So be it then," said Henriette, with a sigh of relief. "I will take my
departure next Saturday after the Innitt's clam-bake on Honk Island. The
servants can go Saturday afternoon after the house has been put in
order. You can order a fresh supply of champagne and cigars for
yourself, and as for your meals--"

"Don't you bother about that," said I, with a laugh. "I lived for months
on the chafing-dish before I found you again. And I rather think the
change from game birds and pate de foie gras to simple eggs and bread
and butter will do me good."

And so the matter was arranged. The servants were notified that, owing
to Mrs. Van Raffles's illness, they might take a vacation on full pay
for ten days, and Henriette herself prepared society for her departure
by fainting twice at the Innit's clam-bake on Honk Island.

No less a person than Mrs. Gaster herself brought her home at four
o'clock in the morning and her last words were an exhortation to her
"_dear_ Mrs. Van Raffles" to be careful of herself "for all our sakes."
Saturday morning Henriette departed. Saturday afternoon the servants
followed suit, and I was alone in my glory--and oh, how I revelled in
it! The beauties of Bolivar Lodge had never so revealed themselves to
me as then; the house as dark as the tomb without, thanks to the closing
of the shutters and the drawing to of all the heavy portieres before the
windows, but a blaze of light within from cellar to roof. I spent whole
hours gloating over the treasures of that Monte-Cristan treasure-house,
and all day Sunday and Monday I spent poring over the books in the
library, a marvellous collection, though for the most part wholly uncut.

Everything moved along serenely until Wednesday afternoon, when I
thought I heard a noise in the cellar, but investigation revealed the
presence of no one but a stray cat which miaowed up the cellar steps to
me in response to my call of "Who's there." True, I did not go down to
see if any one were there, not caring to involve myself in a personal
encounter with a chance tramp who might have wandered in, in search of
food. The sudden materialization of the cat satisfactorily explained the
noises, and I returned to the library to resume my reading of _The
Origin of the Decalogue_ where I had left off at the moment of the
interruption.