"
People began getting up to go away. It was past eleven o'clock. Sir
Donald and Robin Pierce stood together, saying good-bye to Lady Holme. As
she held out her hand to the former, she said:
"Oh, Sir Donald, you know Russia, don't you?"
"I do."
"Then I want you to tell me the name of that stuff they carry down the
Neva in boats--the stuff that has such a horrible smell. That song always
reminds me of it, and Fritz can't remember the name."
"Nor can I," said Sir Donald, rather abruptly. "Good-night, Lady Holme."
He walked out of the room, followed by Robin.
CHAPTER II
LORD HOLME'S house was in Cadogan Square. When Sir Donald had put on his
coat in the hall he turned to Robin Pierce and said:
"Which way do you go?"
"To Half Moon Street," said Robin.
"We might walk, if you like. I am going the same way.
"Certainly."
They set out slowly. It was early in the year. Showers of rain had fallen
during the day. The night was warm, and the damp earth in the Square
garden steamed as if it were oppressed and were breathing wearily. The
sky was dark and cloudy, and the air was impregnated with a scent to
which many things had contributed, each yielding a fragment of the odour
peculiar to it. Rain, smoke, various trees and plants, the wet paint on a
railing, the damp straw laid before the house of an invalid, the hothouse
flowers carried by a woman in a passing carriage--these and other things
were represented in the heavy atmosphere which was full of the sensation
of life.
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