t ruined temples. He might be a
yachting man, who only cared for Salamis as good anchorage, nor thought of
the Acropolis, except as a point of departure; or he might be one of those
myriads who travel without knowing where, or caring why: airing their ennui
now at Thebes, now at Trolhatten; a weariful, dispirited race, who rarely
look so thoroughly alive as when choosing a cigar or changing their money.
There was no reason why the 'distinguished Mr. Atlee' might not be one of
these--he was accredited, too, by his Minister, and his 'solidarity,' as
the French call it, was beyond question.

While yet revolving these points, a kavass--with much gold in his jacket,
and a voluminous petticoat of white calico--came to inform him that his
Excellency the Prince hope to see him at breakfast at eleven o'clock; and
it now only wanted a few minutes of that hour. Atlee detained the messenger
to show him the road, and at last set out.

Traversing one dreary, ill-built street after another, they arrived at last
at what seemed a little lane, the entrance to which carriages were denied
by a line of stone posts, at the extremity of which a small green gate
appeared in a wall. Pushing this wide open, the kavass stood respectfully,
while Atlee passed in, and found himself in what for Greece was a garden.
There were two fine palm-trees, and a small scrub of oleanders and dwarf
cedars that grew around a little fish-pond, where a small Triton in the
middle, with distended cheeks, should have poured forth a refreshing jet of
water, but his lips were dry, and his conch-shell empty, and the muddy tank
at his feet a mere surface of broad water-lilies convulsively shaken by
bull-frogs. A short shady path led to the house, a two-storeyed edifice,
with the external stair of wood that seemed to crawl round it on every
side.

In a good-sized room of the ground-floor Atlee found the prince awaiting
him. He was confined to a sofa by a slight sprain, he called it, and
apologised for his not being able to rise.

The prince, though advanced in years, was still handsome: his features had
all the splendid regularity of their Greek origin; but in the enormous
orbits, of which the tint was nearly black, and the indented temples,
traversed by veins of immense size, and the firm compression of his lips,
might be read the signs of a man who carried the gambling spirit into every
incident of life, one ready 'to back his luck,' and show a bold front to
fortune w