r they cheered the more did he smile and blush.

"Gentlemen," he said; and this was the signal for further cheering;
"Gentlemen," said the blushing orator, at length, "our friend is at his
old tricks. I cannot make a speech to you--except this: I ask you to
drink a glass of champagne with me. Kellner--Champagner!"

And he incontinently dropped into his seat again, having forgotten
altogether to acknowledge the compliment paid to himself and the
Grand-duke.

However, this was like the letting in of water; for no sooner had the
two or three bottles ordered by Herr Hempel been exhausted than one
after another of his companions seemed to consider it was their turn
now, and loud-shouted orders were continually being administered to the
busy waiter. Wine flowed and sparkled; cigars were freely exchanged; the
volume of conversation rose in tone, for all were speaking at once; the
din became fast and furious.

In the midst of all this Reitzei alone sat apart and silent. Ever since
coming into the room the attention of Beratinsky had been monopolized by
his neighbor, who had just come back from a great artistic _fete_ in
some German town, and who, dressed as the Emperor Barbarossa, and
followed by his knights, had ridden up the big staircase into the
Town-hall. The festivities had lasted for a fortnight; the
Staatsweinkeller had furnished liberal supplies; the Princess Adelheid
had been present at the crowning ceremony. Then he had brought with him
sketches of the various costumes, and so forth. Perhaps it was
inadvertently that Beratinsky so grossly neglected his guest.

The susceptible vanity of Reitzei had been deeply wounded before he
entered, but now the cup of his wrath was filled to overflowing. The
more champagne he drank--and there was plenty coming and going--the more
sullen he became. For the rest, he had forgotten the circumstance that
he had already drunk two glasses of brandy before his arrival, and that
he had eaten nothing since mid-day.

At length Beratinsky turned to him.

"Will you have a cigar, Reitzei?"

Reitzei's first impulse was to refuse to speak; but his wrongs forced
him. He said, coldly,

"No, thanks; I have already been offered a cigar by the gentleman next
me. Perhaps you will kindly tell me how one, being sober, had any need
to pretend to be sober?"

Beratinsky stared at him.

"Oh, you are thinking about that yet, are you?" he said, indifferently;
and at this moment, as his neighbor c