Troubles never come singly; moreover, they come on horseback, and go away on foot.

If Claudius had passed an unpleasant afternoon, the Countess's day had been darkened with the shadow of a very serious difficulty.

Early in the morning her maid had brought her coffee, and with it a note in a foreign hand.

The maid, who was French, and possessed the usual characteristics of French maids, had exhausted her brain in trying to discover who the sender might be.

But the missive was sealed with wax, and a plain "N" was all the impression.