ables.

"Then I noticed the elder of the women unfold a well-known London
newspaper and move closer to his side. They began glancing over its
pages together and seemed to be deeply moved by an article they,
apparently, were reading as they walked slowly toward the gate.
Finally, when they were about ten feet from where I stood concealed
behind one of the massive palms, the man raised his head from the page
and, looking earnestly into the woman's eyes, exclaimed in a skeptical
tone: '_Il n'aurait jamais cru le fait si ces messieurs n'avaient
pu lui jurer L'avoir vu!... Tout ce que j'ai predit!... Les faux
nobles,--les plagiaires_!' which means in English, "He couldn't have
believed the thing unless these gentlemen had sworn they witnessed
it!... All that I predicted!... The sham nobles!... the stealing
authors!" The comment set me thinking.

"Who _is_ he? I asked myself. Inside of five minutes I had heard him
speak in English, in Russian and in French! I am certain that he is
not a Frenchman,--although his accent would have proclaimed him a
native of the Avenue des Champs Elysees. He had a Danish countenance,
the eyes of English Royalty and the forehead of an early Christian
martyr.

"No one I have talked to on the island seems certain of his identity.
Some take the view that he is a retired millionaire, judging from the
refined simplicity of his family and the strict guard the Government
has furnished to protect his undisturbed retirement. Others hint that
he may be, possibly, some very high dignitary, judging from the
almost Royal homage that some people in the city pay to his person and
family.

"The only reliable information I got about him was that he arrived
upon the island aboard a man-o'-war accompanied by one of the richest
tea merchants in the Empire. He declines all membership in any of the
clubs, apparently satisfied to spend the time among his orchids and
the lovely white-robed debutantes I saw blooming in that fascinating
garden.

"Naturally I was very curious about the identity of this secluded
family. But the only information given out about them by the
chivalrous tea merchant or the Government officials is simply, 'Oh,
the family have friends in India and are living in retirement.'"

One would be very bold to say, after reading the foregoing, that the
personages described were the same people who had been driven out of
the Winter Palace upon the ebb-tide of their Imperial splendor a
few months b