'Come,' Prince Aribert repeated, and there was an imperious command in his utterance.

'What are you afraid of ?' 'I don't know,' said Racksole, feeling stupid and queer; 'I don't know.' Then he marched heavily after Prince Aribert into the room.

On the mantelpiece were a couple of candles which had been blown out, and in a mechanical, unthinking way, Racksole lighted them, and the two men glanced round the room.

It presented no peculiar features: it was just an ordinary room, rather small, rather mean, rather shabby, with an ugly wallpaper and ugly pictures in ugly frames.

Thrown over a chair was a man's evening-dress jacket.