"Ah!" cried his father, "you have got into some other ugly scrape, sir!" "_Au contraire_, governor! Mistaken for once." "Your appearance rarely means anything else. Have you anything of importance to say to me?" "Oh, nothing of a nature that I cannot say before Herr Sujukin." "I suppose some pressing money difficulty?" "_Au contraire_," returned the young man, carelessly throwing himself back upon a couch, and ostentatiously drawing out a handful of gold from his pocket. "You see it is not that which brought me." "By Jove! you have lined your pockets well. May I inquire the source of this plenty?" "Why not? No need to conceal it from Herr Sujukin. I won it a night or two ago at rouge-et-noir." "So! At nights, when you are intrusted with the inspection, you can manage to find time for the faro-bank?" "I only just happened in _en passant_. I just hazarded a couple of sovereigns; seven times, one after another, I won. I had deuced good-luck; red always turned up. And I left off playing while the vein was on." "And you come to tell me the good news?" "Oh no! On the contrary, I come to bring you the latest. Only fancy! the celebrated harpist, Chamberlin, has arrived from Paris, and is going to give some concerts." "I never knew you to be so devoted to the harp." "Oh, I rave about it." "And I can't abide it," put in Sujukin, in full agreement with the father. Jevgen continued: "His Majesty the Czar, to do honor to the harpist, has commanded a state concert to-night at the Winter Palace." "Oh, I delight in the harp!" hastily threw in Sujukin, in order to amend his former speech. "The invitations are already issued. It will be a particularly brilliant assemblage. I just saw your invitation delivered to your groom of the chambers. I have already received mine." "Oh, then, of course it will be a brilliant affair!" "I suppose you know that we must appear _en grande tenue_? Men with the _grand cordon_ and all their orders." "Upon my soul! Doing high honor to the musician." "Besides which the Zeneida will sing something of Cimarosa." "Is that all you have to tell me?" "Beyond that nothing," returned the young man, rising with a yawn as he looked at the clock. "Now I must be off and change. By-the-way, shall you be at the state concert to-night?" "What else should I do, as the Czar honors me with an invitation?" "I thought, perhaps, your rheumatism was plaguing you too much." "Do not forget that there is no rheumatism when the Czar commands." "And yet it were a pity to risk your health, sir, for sake of a scoundrelly musician. You will be awfully bored. There is nothing in the world so ghastly dull as the harp." "You just told me you raved about it." "Oh, of course, if it is a lady harpist. But to see a man sprawling over the strings! _pas si bête_! It is for all the world like listening to some street player. I could make your excuses to the Czar for you in form if you preferred to stay at home."