He would sometimes return early from assembly, rout, or ridotto to pay a visit to Mr. Ripple. He would usually find the latter engaged in a game of picket with Sir George Repington; and, after entertaining the two old gentlemen with a witty and satirical account of the evening's entertainment, he would walk slowly back to Dragon Lodge, stare meditatively at the new motto he had adopted, _Fui decorus_, step into a small ivory room that opened out of the massive library and take from a cedar-wood drawer a white swansdown muff. EXPLICIT End of Project Gutenberg's The Passionate Elopement, by Compton Mackenzie