He laughed softly, and drank his liqueur.

Afterwards he leaned back for a moment in his chair and glanced thoughtfully around at the assembled company as though anxious to impress upon his memory all who were present.

It was a little group, every member of which bore a well-known name.

Their host, the Duke of Dorset, in whose splendid library they were assembled, was, if not the premier duke of the United Kingdom, at least one of those whose many hereditary offices and ancient family entitled him to a foremost place in the aristocracy of the world.

Raoul de Brouillac, Count of Orleans, bore a name which was scarcely absent from a single page of the martial history of France.