or had greater reason to grumble.

On the second floor of the next house to Bows's, in Shepherd's Inn, at
No. 3, live two other acquaintances of ours: Colonel Altamont, agent to
the Nawaub of Lucknow, and Captain Chevalier Edward Strong. No name at
all is over their door. The Captain does not choose to let all the world
know where he lives and his cards bear the address of a Jermyn
Street hotel; and as for the Ambassador Plenipotentiary of the Indian
potentate, he is not an envoy accredited to the Courts of St. James's
or Leadenhall Street but is here on a confidential mission quite
independent of the East India Company or the Board of Control. "In
fact," Strong says, "Colonel Altamont's object being financial, and to
effectuate a sale of some of the principal diamonds and rubies of the
Lucknow crown, his wish is not to report himself at the India House or
in Cannon Row, but rather to negotiate with private capitalists--with
whom he has had important transactions both in this country and on the
Continent."

We have said that these anonymous chambers of Strong's had been very
comfortably furnished since the arrival of Sir Francis Clavering in
London, and the Chevalier might boast with reason to the friends who
visited him, that few retired Captains were more snugly quartered than
he, in his crib in Shepherd's Inn. There were three rooms below: the
office where Strong transacted his business--whatever that might be--and
where still remained the desk and railings of the departed officials who
had preceded him, and the Chevalier's own bedroom and sitting-room; and
a private stair led out of the office to two upper apartments, the one
occupied by Colonel Altamont, and the other serving as the kitchen of
the establishment, and the bedroom of Mr. Grady, the attendant. These
rooms were on a level with the apartments of our friends Bows and
Costigan next door at No. 4; and by reaching over the communicating
leads, Grady could command the mignonette-box which bloomed in Bows's
window.

From Grady's kitchen casement often came odours still more fragrant. The
three old soldiers who formed the garrison of No. 3 were all skilled
in the culinary art. Grady was great at an Irish stew; the Colonel
was famous for pillaus and curries; and as for Strong he could cook
anything. He made French dishes and Spanish dishes, stews, fricassees,
and omelettes, to perfection; nor was there any man in England more
hospitable than he when his purse