PRIVATE AND DIPLOMATIC The following evening I dined alone with my brother, who was, for him, in an unusually cheerful frame of mind.

He talked with more interest of life and his share in it than he had done--to me, at any rate--since the tragedy which had deprived him of a home.

Toward the end of dinner I asked him a question.
"Ralph," I said, "how could I meet the Chinese ambassador here ?" He stared at me for a moment.
"Why, at any of the diplomatic receptions, I suppose," he said, seeing that I was in earnest.

"He is rather a pal of Freddy's.

Why don't you ring up and ask him ?" "I will, the moment after dinner," I answered.
"Why this sudden interest in Orientalism ?" Ralph asked curiously.
"Curiously enough, it is apropos of these Deloras," I answered.