'Mr Litvinoff will have coffee, of course, my dear; young men don't like tea nowadays.'
'I can't claim to be very young,' said the other, smiling, 'but I do like tea.'
'Ah! you would just please my wife; she says that a liking for tea in a young man is a sign of a good moral disposition.'
'I'm afraid in my case it's national instinct, not moral beauty.'
'National!' repeated Mr Stanley, 'national! Why, God bless my soul, you aren't Chinese, are you?'
The guest threw his head back and laughed unaffectedly; and Clare smiled behind the tea-tray.
'Oh, no; I'm only a Russian.'
'Oh, ah,' said Mr Stanley, in a rather disappointed tone. For the moment he had been quite pleased at the thought that here was actually a Chinese who could talk excellent English, and whose garments were not exactly the same, to the uninitiated, as those of his wife and mother.
'You speak English uncommonly well,' he went on.