He showed them, at length, the causes of the accident; for years, he explained, the fall had been impending; one sign had followed another, the joints had opened, the plaster had cracked, the old walls bowed inward; last, not three weeks ago, the cellar door had begun to work with difficulty in its grooves.

'The cellar!' he said, gravely shaking his head over a glass of mulled wine.

'That reminds me of my poor vintages.

By a manifest providence the Hermitage was nearly at an end.

One bottle--I lose but one bottle of that incomparable wine.