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 bowed and scraped directly he set eyes on us, and did nothing else for the next ten minutes.

My master spoke in French, and though there were things that I could not follow, I had not been in Paris all those months without getting a bit of a grip on the lingo. I was anxious enough, you may understand, that Sir Nicolas should carry himself with confidence; but I must say that directly he had passed the shop-door he played the game like a man.

"Good-evening," said he. "I am the Comte de Laon, and have an introduction to Herr Lobmeyr from my friend Count Horowitz. Is it possible to see him to-night?"

"Perfectly," replied the other; "he is at this moment in his office."

"Then pray present this note to him, and say that the Comte de Laon and Sir Nicolas Steele of London would be glad of ten minutes' conversation with him."

You must know that we had arranged this tale on our way from France. He was to be the Comte de Laon; I was to be Sir Nicolas Steele. I had seen the young count chumming a good deal in Paris with the Austrian Horowitz, and I had put Sir Nicolas Steele up to the idea that he should get a letter of introduction from the Austrian to two or three people in Vienna. Once we were in possession of the document (and Horowitz gave it readily enough, although he knew nothing about Nicolas Steele, except that he was the best whip in the city), it was easy enough to