'I'm coming again, you know, very often. I daresay you'll find me a great bore!' the Captain announced, as he bade good-night to his host. 'Your sister is a most interesting creature, one of the most interesting creatures I have ever seen, and the whole thing, you know, exactly the sort of thing I wanted to get at, only much more—really, much more—original and curious. It has been a great success, a grand success!'
And the Captain felt his way down the dusky shaft, while Paul Muniment, above, gave him the benefit of rather a wavering candlestick, and answered his civil speech with an 'Oh, well, you take us as you find us, you know!' and an outburst of frank but not unfriendly laughter.
Half-an-hour later Hyacinth found himself in Captain Sholto's chambers, seated on a big divan covered with Persian rugs and cushions and smoking the most delectable cigar that had ever touched his lips. As they left Audley Court the Captain had taken his arm, and they had walked along together in a desultory, colloquial manner, till on Westminster Bridge (they had followed the embankment, beneath St. Thomas's Hospital) Sholto said, 'By the way, why shouldn't you come home with me and see my little place? I've got a few things that might amuse you—some pictures, some odds and ends I've picked up, and a few bindings; you might tell me what you think of them.' Hyacinth assented, without hesitation; he had still in his ear the reverberation of the Captain's inquiries in Rose Muniment's room, and he saw no reason why he, on his side, should not embrace an occasion of ascertaining how, as his companion would have said, a man of fashion would live now.
