Ronald, Duke of Middlebottom, had taken a furnished house on West Twelfth Street for the summer, against the advice of friends who had urged the advantages of Sutton Place. The owner of this property, a woman, had individual taste, somewhat influenced by the Italian of various epochs and styles, and the Duke had added his own touches here and there. The drawing-room, a vast chamber on a level with the street-door, approached by a flight of steps, extended the full depth of the house. The walls of this room were stained a curious olive-green, and the windows were curtained with stiff draped silver-grey taffeta, bound with narrow bands of turquoise-blue. Silver and crystal candelabra were placed at convenient intervals along the walls, but no central chandelier depended from the ceiling. On the marble mantelshelf stood two Venetian glass Ethiopians, clad in white, clasping baskets of multi-coloured crisp glass flowers, from the midst of which emerged white wax candles. On a long, polished walnut table there were more glass figures, capricious examples of the art of the verrier, a Spanish Infanta of rosso Murano and black, a white-spotted black deer, a saucy red-lipped
