By Monday I had papered and furnished the rooms, and was ready to start on my voyage of exploration. I met the Cantankerous Old Lady at Charing Cross, by appointment, and proceeded to take charge of her luggage and tickets. Oh my, how fussy she was! 'You will drop that basket! I hope you have got through tickets, _via_ Malines, _not_ by Brussels-- I won't go by Brussels. You have to change there. Now, mind you notice how much the luggage weighs in English pounds, and make the man at the office give you a note of it to check those horrid Belgian porters. They'll charge you for double the weight, unless you reduce it at once to kilogrammes. _I_ know their ways. Foreigners have no consciences. They just go to the priest and confess, you know, and wipe it all out, and start fresh again on a career of crime next morning. I'm sure I don't know why I _ever_ go abroad. The only country in the world fit to live in is England. No mosquitoes, no passports, no--goodness gracious, child, don't let that odious man bang about my hat-box! Have you no immortal soul, porter, that you crush other people's property as if it was blackbeetles? No, I will not let you take this, Lois; this is my jewel-box--it contains all that remains of the Fawley family jewels. I positively decline to appear at Schlangenbad without a diamond to my back. This never leaves my hands. It's hard enough nowadays to keep body and skirt together. _Have_ you secured that _coupe_ at Ostend?' [Illustration: A MOST URBANE AND OBLIGING CONTINENTAL GENTLEMAN.] We got into our first-class carriage. It was clean and comfortable; but the Cantankerous Old Lady made the porter mop the floor, and fidgeted and worried till we slid out of the station. Fortunately, the only other occupant of the compartment was a most urbane and obliging Continental gentleman--I say Continental, because I couldn't quite make out whether he was French, German, or Austrian--who was anxious in every way to meet Lady Georgina's wishes. Did madame desire to have the window open? Oh, certainly, with pleasure; the day was so sultry. Closed a little more? _Parfaitement_, there _was_ a current of air, _il faut l'admettre_. Madame would prefer the corner? No? Then perhaps she would like this valise for a footstool? _Permettez_--just thus. A cold draught runs so often along the floor in railway carriages. This is Kent that we traverse; ah, the garden of England! As a diplomat, he knew every nook of Europe, and he echoed the _mot_ he had accidentally heard drop from madame's lips on the platform: no country in the world so delightful as England! 'Monsieur is attached to the Embassy in London?' Lady Georgina inquired, growing affable.