r men had already spoken to the count, showing that he was
well known, giving notice, as it were, that Pateroff would become a
public man when once he was placed in a public circle. To have given a
dinner to the count, and to have spoken no word to him about Lady Ongar,
would be by no means satisfactory to Harry's feelings, though, as it
appeared, it might be sufficiently satisfactory to the guest. Harry
therefore suggested one bottle of claret. The count agreed, expressing
an opinion that the 51 Lafitte was unexceptional. The 51 Lafitte was
ordered, and Harry, as he filled his glass, considered the way in which
his subject should be introduced.

"You knew Lord Ongar, I think, abroad?"

"Lord Ongar--abroad! Oh, yes, very well; and for many years here in
London; and at Vienna; and very early in life at St. Petersburg. I knew
Lord Ongar first in Russia, when he was attached to the embassy as
Frederic Courton. His father, Lord Courton, was then alive, as was also
his grandfather. He was a nice, good-looking lad then."

"As regards his being nice, he seems to have changed a good deal before
he died." This the count noticed by simply shrugging his shoulders and
smiling as he sipped his wine. "By all that I can hear, he became a
horrid brute when he married," said Harry, energetically.

"He was not pleasant when he was ill at Florence," said the count.

"She must have had a terrible time with him," said Harry.

The count put up his hands, again shrugged his shoulders, and then shook
his head. "She knew he was no longer an Adonis when he married her."

"An Adonis! No; she did not expect an Adonis; but she thought he would
have something of the honor and feelings of a man."

"She found it uncomfortable, no doubt. He did too much of this, you
know," said the count, raising his glass to his lips; "and he didn't do
it with 51 Lafitte. That was Ongar's fault. All the world knew it for
the last ten years. No one knew it better than Hugh Clavering."

"But--" said Harry, and then he stopped. He hardly knew what it was that
he wished to learn from the man, though he certainly did wish to learn
something. He had thought that the count would himself have talked about
Lady Ongar and those Florentine days, but this he did not seem disposed
to do. "Shall we have our cigars now?" said Count Pateroff.

"One moment, if you don't mind."

"Certainly, certainly. There is no hurry."

"You will take no more wine?"

"No more wine. I ta