It seemed that Roland's uneasiness had been shown by his not turning in till about two. 'Good heavens!--you didn't stay there till that time?' asked Dick, with an air of outraged propriety that would have amused him very much in anyone else. 'How old Stanley must have cursed you!' 'Oh, no; we left there at eleven.' 'We? You didn't take Miss Stanley for a walk on the Embankment, I presume?' 'No such luck. Didn't I tell you? I met an awfully jolly fellow there--a Russian beggar--a real Nihilist and a count, and we went and had a smoke together.' 'My dear fellow, all exiled Russians are Nihilists, and most of them are counts.' 'Oh, no; he really is. I only found out he was a count quite by chance.' 'What's made old Stanley take up with him? Not community of political sentiments, I guess?' 'Oh, no; he saved the old boy from being smashed by some runaway horses, and of course he's earned his everlasting gratitude. I didn't like him much at first, but when you come to talk to him you find he's got a lot in him. I'm sure you'll like him when you see him.' 'Am I sure to have that honour?' asked Dick, helping himself to another kidney. 'Is he tame cat about the Stanleys already.' 'Why, he'd never been there before; what a fellow you are! I've asked him to come and have dinner with us to-night. I want you to see him. I'm sure you'll get on together. He seems to have met with all sorts of adventures.' 'A veritable Baron Munchausen, in fact?' 'I never met such a suspicious fellow as you are, Dick,' said Roland, a little huffily; 'you never seem to believe in any body.' This smote Dick with some compunction, and he resolved not to dislike this _soi-disant_ count until he had cause to do so, which cause he did not doubt that their first meeting would furnish forth abundantly. But he was wrong. Litvinoff came, and Dick found his prejudices melting away. The count seemed a standing proof of the correctness of the parallels which have been drawn between Russian and English character. He was English in his frankness, his modesty, his off-hand way of telling his own adventures without making himself the hero of his stories. Before the evening was over Dick began to realise that Nihilists were not quite so black as they are sometimes painted, and that there are other countries besides England where progressive measures are desirable. The brothers were both interested, and tried very hard to get more particulars of Nihilist doctrines, but as they grew more curious Litvinoff became more reticent. As he rose to go he said,-- 'Well, if you want to hear a more explicit statement of our wrongs, our principles, and our hopes, and you don't mind rubbing shoulders with English workmen for an hour or two--and if you're not too strict Sabbatarians, by-the-way--you might come down to a Radical club in Soho. I am going to speak there at eight on Sunday evening. I shall be very glad if you'll come; but don't come if you think it will bore you.'