The dice rang sharply as I entered, and he who had just thrown kept the box over them while he turned, scowling, to see who came in.

He was a fair-haired, blonde man, large-framed and florid.

He had put off his cuirass and boots, and his doublet showed frayed and stained where the armour had pressed on it.

Otherwise he was in the extreme of last year's fashion.

His deep cravat, folded over so that the laced ends drooped a little in front, was of the finest; his great sash of blue and silver was a foot wide.