. L., however, was not one to be easily defeated.

If baffled in one road, he usually found out another. He therefore
wrote a brief note to the Minister, stating that he might require his
assistance at a later hour of the evening, and at a time not usually
official. This done, he despatched another note to Captain E. F., saying
familiarly it was scarcely worth while trying to catch the mail-train
that night, and that perhaps instead he would come over and take a
_tete-a-tete_ dinner with him at the Legation.

F. was overjoyed as he read it! No man ever felt a higher pleasure in
good company, nor knew better how to make it profitable. If he had been
asked to choose, he would infinitely rather have had the invitation to
dine than the twenty pounds he had pocketed in the morning. The cognate
men of the world--and all members of the diplomatic career are to a
certain extent in this category--were in F.'s estimation the "trump
cards" of the pack, with which he could "score tricks" innumerable, and
so he accepted at once; and, in a very few minutes after his acceptance,
made his appearance in a correct dinner-dress and a most unexceptionable
white tie.

"Couldn't refuse that pleasant offer of yours, L." (he was familiar at
once, and called him L.), "and here I am!" said he, as he threw himself
into an easy-chair with all the bland satisfaction of one who looked
forward to a good dinner and a very enjoyable evening.

"I am happy to have secured you," said L., with a little laugh to
himself at the epigram of his phrase. "Do you like caviar?"

"Delight in it!"

"I have just got some fresh from St Petersburg, and our cook here is
rather successful in his caviar soup. We have a red trout from the
_Tegen See_, a saddle of Tyrol mutton, and a pheasant--_voila votre
diner!_ but I can promise you a more liberal _carte_ in drinkables; just
say what you like in the way of wine!"

F.'s face beamed over with ecstasy. It was one of the grand moments of
his life; and if he could, hungry as he was, he would have prolonged it!
To be there the guest of her Majesty's mission; to know, to feel, that
the arms of England were over the door! that he was to be waited on
by flunkies in the livery of the Legation, fed by the cook who had
ministered to official palates, his glass filled with wine from
the cellar of him who represented royalty! These were very glorious
imaginings; and little wonder that F., whose whole life was a Poem in
its way