"The fishing is worth nothing at all," answered the Count, decisively. He paused for a moment and then went on: "There is, however, one request that I am obliged to make to you."
"Any wish of yours is a command to me, my dear host."
"It is that during your visit you will hold no communication whatever with the right wing of the house." The Count was now lighting a cigar; he completed the operation carefully, and then added:
"The Countess's establishment and mine are entirely separate—entirely."
"The Countess!" exclaimed Dieppe, not unnaturally surprised.
"I regret to trouble you with family matters. My wife and I are not in agreement; we have n't met for three months. She lives in the right wing with two servants; I live in the left with three. We hold no communication, and our servants are forbidden to hold any among themselves; obedience is easier to insure as we have kept only those we can trust, and, since entertaining is out of the question, have dismissed the rest."
"You have—er—had a difference?" the Captain ventured to suggest, for the Count seemed rather embarrassed.
"A final and insuperable difference, a final and permanent separation." The Count's tone was sad but very firm.
"I am truly grieved. But—forgive me—does n't the arrangement you indicate entail some inconvenience?"
"Endless inconvenience," assented the Count.