Page:Pleased to Meet You (1927).pdf/37

 "I hope it is still open," said Guadeloupe.

"The Yellow Room, a small parlour painted with Cupids, is between the ballroom and the salon. The Duke used to play cards there after dinner. The American ambassador often came down from Vienna to play poker with him."

"I think I have heard that the Duke was unlucky at cards," said the President.

"To be in debt to America is quite in the Farniente tradition," remarked the other. "The Dukes of Illyria always led lives full of romantic hazard. There is hardly a chamber in the palace that has not been the scene of some deed of violence. In the state dining room the crystal chandelier is chipped; that happened when His Grace was attacked by a demented footman who disliked his table manners. Beyond the dining room is the billiard room, and past that, in the south tower, the Dark Room."

"The Dark Room? Was the Duke a photographer?"