rranging his tie, gave him only a note of individuality.
Every word he spoke--and he talked softly but continually during the
service of the meal--confirmed Arnold's first impressions of him. He
was a man, at least, who had lived a man's life without fear or
weakness, and, whatever his standards might be, he would adhere to
them.

Dinner was noiselessly and perfectly served by the butler who had
first appeared, and a slighter and smaller edition of himself who
brought him the dishes. There was no champagne, but other wines were
served in their due order, the quality of which Arnold appreciated,
although more than one was strange to him. With the removal of the
last course, fruit was placed upon the table, with a decanter of
_Chateau Yquem_. On a small table near was a brass pot of coffee and
a flask of green liqueur. Sabatini pushed the cigarettes towards his
companion.

"I have a fancy to talk to you seriously," he said, without any
preamble.

Arnold looked at him in some surprise.

"I am not a philanthropist," continued Sabatini. "When I move out of
my regular course of life it is usually for my own advantage. I warn
you of that before we start."

Arnold nodded and lit his cigarette fearlessly. There was no safety
in life, he reflected, thinking for the moment of the warning which
he had received, like the safety of poverty.

"I am a man of forty-one," Sabatini said. "You, I believe, are
twenty-four. There can, therefore, be no impertinences in the truth
from me to you."

"There could be none in any case," Arnold assured him.

Sabatini gazed thoughtfully across the table into his guest's face.

"I do not know your history or your parentage," he went on. "Such
knowledge is unnecessary. It is obvious that your position at the
present moment is the result of an accident."

"It is the outcome of actual poverty," Arnold told him softly.

Sabatini assented.

"Ah! well," he said, "it is a poverty, then, which you have
accepted. Tell me, then, of your ambition! You are young, and the
world lies before you. You have the gifts which belong to those who
are born. Are you doing what is right to yourself in working at a
degrading employment for a pittance?"

"I must live," Arnold protested simply.

"Precisely," replied Sabatini. "We all must live. We all, however,
are too apt to accept the rulings of circumstance. I maintain that
we all have a right to live in the manner to which we are born."

"And how," aske