And so I avenged my friend." There was a pause when Barker had finished his tale.

He sipped his tea, and Margaret rose slowly and went to the window.
"Don't you think that is a very good story, Countess ?" he asked.

"Don't you think I was quite right ?" Still no answer.

Margaret rang the bell, and old Vladimir appeared.
"Mr.Barker's carriage," said she; then, recollecting herself, she repeated the order in Russian, and swept out of the room without deigning to look at the astonished young man, standing on the hearthrug with his tea-cup in his hand.

How it is that Vladimir succeeds in interpreting his mistress's orders to the domestics of the various countries in which she travels is a mystery not fathomed, for in her presence he understands only the Slav tongue.