the hall, and the horses made their entrances and exits by the front door. This system helped to keep the house warm in winter, but was apt to lead to unrest at night when a horse broke loose and assaulted its stable companion, as happened from time to time. I should mention that Devey's two horses had been passed on to me, and excellent little beasts they were, though the pair only cost £17. Fodder for the two came to less than £2 a month, and in most respects Erzeroum was a wonderfully cheap place to live in. A notable exception was firewood, which had to be imported from a distance of three days' journey, and consequently cost a fortune. Those who could not afford wood burned 'Tezek," stable refuse made up into cakes and dried, which emitted a horrible smoke as well as heat. My household was on a modest scale, consisting of a cook, Showa, a groom, Tatos, and a Cavass, Miguerditch, all three of them Armenians. Showa had learned her profession under the guidance of Mrs Everett, and was quite a good cook in a limited way. We seldom met, as she was a lady of strong will and forbidding appearance, with whom I thought it more tactful to communicate through an intermediary. On great occasions she wore a gold watch and chain and one black kid glove, gifts from her former mistress, and presented an almost regal aspect. Tatos was a bit of a sneak and misappropriated the horses' fodder, but all grooms do that, and on the whole he was not a bad servant. Miguerditch was an excellent fellow, but his nationality made him useless for the basic duty of a Cavass, to overawe the badlydisposed and protect his master, though on occasions he could gird on a sword and do the ceremonial part of the business. He waited at table, and was thoroughly trustworthy. The Erzeroum Consulate possessed a paid Dragoman, Yussuf Effendi by name, also an Armenian. He had a fair knowledge of English, and was supposed to serve as clerk when required. To this circumstance I attributed his touching anxiety to prevent my overworking myself by addressing unnecessary reports to the Embassy, which it might have been his task to copy out. He was fond in this connection of quoting to the correct attitude of a former Acting Consul. Mr E.," he would say, go out shooting ALL the week. Then come home on Saturday and write one very good despatch." But what I most vividly recollect of Yussuf Effendi was the superb obeisance with which he would do me homage on arriving at the Consulate in the morning. It was neither a bow nor a genuflexion, but a complicated blend of the two executed with the hands tightly pressed on the abdomen, and more expressive of loyalty, abasement, and anxiety to be of service than any salute which I have seen in my life. Colonel Everett was at the time of my arrival still titular Consul at Erzeroum, and remained so until the end of 1887, though the disaster which had befallen him obliged him to leave the country nearly two years before. It was a mysterious affair, and happened in this wise. There were then two Cavasses, Miguerditch and a Turk, who slept on the premises in rotation. On the particular night in question it was Miguerditch's turn to go home, and the Turk should have remained on duty. Whether he connived at what followed or simply failed in his duty, the fact remains that he absented himself without permission, leaving the groom, an Armenian, to occupy the Cavasses' room on the ground floor. During the evening another Armenian, a man from a village a few miles away and known to the groom, called, and begged the latter to put him up for the night, as he had nowhere to go to. The groom consented, though he had, of course, no business to do so, and the two went to bed. In the middle of the night the groom was awakened by a blow administered by the stranger with a Cavass's sword which hung on the wall, and which unluckily had been sharpened recently. Somehow or other he escaped serious injury and ran screaming upstairs, followed by his assailant still carrying the sword. Colo nel Everett, awakened by the noise, came out of his bedroom in his nightshirt, and the Armenian went for him at once; but the Colonel closed with him, and succeeded in wresting the sword from him, though not before receiving severe cuts on his own head and hands. The Armenian then fell on his knees and begged for mercy, declaring that it was all a 'mistake," and unluckily the Colonel was taken in by his protestations, and telling him to be off, turned round to enter his room and bind up his wounds. The sword was left lying on the ground, and the rascal picked it up like a flash and renewed his attack, but again with astonishing pluck and determination Colonel Everett closed with him and disarmed him, though terribly cut about in the process. This time Mrs Everett brought out a loaded revolver and begged her husband to make an end of the brute. But the blood was streaming down into his eyes and his right hand was in ribbons, and the first two shots he fired entered the wall. The third winged the groom, who had remained a spectator of the scene, and as the trigger was pulled for a fourth shot the heavy revolver fell and the bullet entered the Colonel's own ankle, shattering the bone. Had the Armenian come on again there would have been no possibility of further resistance, but his courage now failed him, and he ran downstairs and out of the house. Mrs Everett helped her hus- asked the Public Prosecutor band on to his bed, and then in charge of the case, with went to call a doctor and warn whom I was on friendly terms, the police, who had no diffi- if he could not, now that the culty in finding and arresting affair was over and done with, the Armenian. At the trial let me know privately what the which ensued he made no official theory was. He replied attempt to deny his guilt, that the culprit had confessed which indeed was undeniable, and had received the maximum and he was sentenced to fifteen legal penalty, and that the years' imprisonment, but the Turkish authorities had not motive for the crime remained cared to probe the matter a mystery. All sorts of theories further; but he certainly gave were current in the town, the me the impression that he most popular being that the knew more than he cared Armenian had been suborned to tell. by the Russian Consulate to steal maps of the frontier districts known to have been made by Colonel Everett, an expert topographer, and had lost his head and exceeded his instructions. Colonel Everett himself inclined to the belief that robbery was the motive. A sudden attack of homicidal mania would have been an obvious and adequate explanation, but it was not suggested that the man was in any way unsound mentally. Colonel Everett received more than twenty cuts on the head and hands, besides the injury to his leg, which left a permanent lameness; but he recovered, and in a month or two was well enough to be carried in a litter to Trebizond, and thence to make his way to England. Though incapacitated for active military service, he subsequently became Professor of Topography at the Staff College, and then Assistant Director of Military Before leaving Erzeroum I Intelligence. (To be concluded.) AN UNREALISED ASSET. OUR meeting came about in this wise: it was gorgeous early spring weather, and recommended by Gaston, the concierge at my hotel, I visited the ménage of one Louis Soil, selected a bright golden chestnut from his stables, and ordered it to be brought round to the hotel courtyard at nine the following morning. Nine o'clock arrived, and with it a groom, whom Gaston greeted with enthusiastic approval. I did not evince the same appreciation, seeing that this gentleman was leading a walleyed strawberry-roan, which, despite all Soil père's endeavours to boost it as a pur-sang, I had scorned the previous day with a stream of commentary anything but complimentary either to the poor beast or to Monsieur Soil's judgment in matters equine. My wrath at the audacity of that unpleasant old man was cut short by the unexpected English of the groomthe more surprising since his conversation with Gaston had been in the French of France and not of Stratford-atte-Bowe. He apologised and departed, to return a few moments later with Oriflamme, the chestnut, and a broad grin. The first morning he rode at a respectful distance behind and in silence, but after several rides I made him trot beside me, and thereby lured him into conversation. At first abrupt monosyllables rewarded all efforts, but eventually for some obscure reason he accorded me his apparently rare approval, and told me a little of his chequered career and of his views on life in general. From this, supplemented by information garnered from the praises sung by Gaston whenever he was mentioned, something of "le bon Jeem's" lifestory came to light. "Le bon Jeem," it must be admitted, drinks strong waters whenever opportunity offers, his speech is decidedly coarse, and by his own admission he has purchased raiment and forborne to pay. The rest of the quotation, however, does not apply. Horses have played a great part in his life, but his bitterest enemy would never dream of attempting to spread any doubts concerning his dealings; not only has he won gymkhanas, but in his day has brought an Irish horse first past the post in Madrid. He has ridden from Biarritz to Brussels, from Calais to Berlin, has sampled Albanian saddles, Moorish saddles, and sojourned along crooked and exceedingly narrow mountain paths with no saddle at all. In appearance he is anything but a Beau Brummell: short, square-set-even stocky -with a weather-beaten face, a ragged black moustache, and bright, straight, brown eyesfrequently bloodshot, it is true, but always, to use a favourite expression of their owner's, " on the alurk." He is as clean as Sunlightor its French equivalent can make him, and his breeches and boots, though shabby, are perfectly made, and a very pleasing sight to those conservative British eyes, which will never accustom themselves to the ballet-skirt effects in huge checks, supported by gleaming patent-leather-clad legs, so favoured by French followers of le sport. He is no post-war acquisition of the town, but an institution of many years' standing. Born in one of the cabbagestrewn byways of Covent Garden, that special Providence which looks after gutter-snipes directed his semi-shod feet at an early date towards the precincts of a racing stables of the old, and none too easy, school. After a few years of this rather exacting mode of life he selected the vocation of groom in private service, and, slightly disfigured but still in the ring, joined the personal staff of one of England's bestknown owner-trainers. One morning we were discussing the reasons for the unpopularity of this very efficient gentleman. Jim concluded his speech for the defence with the following truism "He always played straight with me; long after I left 'is service 'e 'elped me over a bad time when 'e 'eard I was laid up with one (adjective) arm broken and out of a job. I don't 'old with judgin' men by what other people 'as to say about 'em. Seems to me it's a sight better only to count how they been with you and your pals, which is all that matters about it to you, ain't it, miss? Most fellers are (two adjectives) hypocrites." I regret to add that he spat as though thereby to lend further emphasis to this assertion. He originally appeared in the station d'hiver in the entourage of a charming but dissolute Irishman, who, having awakened one day to the bitter fact that baccarat, a racing stud, and expensive friends were beyond his means, converted his few remaining assets to hard cash and, together with half a dozen hunters, a few faithful retainers, and a four-in-hand which quite lifted the town out of itself, shook the soil of the British Isles from his unpaid-for boots, and repaired to this remote corner of Gaul to turn over a new leaf. The proverbial difficulties of caring for the pence, plus a too fervent appreciation of the wine when it was red, proved too much for him. He died, and with one of |