Baroness Orczy

“ Everyone who has been to Vienna, probably, has noticed this hotel, with its flashy front, decorated with masses of gilded plaster, broken and tarnished, and its showy-looking porters in threadbare knee-breeches that show signs of once having been of crimson plush, and gold-laced coats that but too plainly proclaim the second-hand wardrobe dealer's shop. It is mostly very noisy from within, especially in the small hours of the morning. ”

“ I tricked them all, every one of them; they thought themselves mighty clever, they did, but Grete Ottlinger was one too many for them. Booby, don't look so scared; give me another glass of champagne, and I'll tell you all about it. Another glass, booby; fill it to the top. I don't often get champagne; men mostly only give me beer or spirits. You see, I am not so young as I was. But champagne–I love champagne––"
She was getting very tipsy and very noisy. Volenski, no less excited than herself, tossed down a couple of glasses. ”

“ She placed her yellow head languishingly on his shoulder.
"Do you know, little booby, that, as a rule, I don't much care for young gentlemen like yourself?"
"No?" he asked indifferently.
"Well, you see," she said, with a pout, "it is difficult to get any fun out of them; they are so mortally afraid of being seen in our company that they won't take us anywhere."
Iván could not help smiling to himself at the idea of taking this beauty–say, to the opera–and meeting his Eminence on the way, and did not wonder that Grete was not very often taken to the theatre by "young gentlemen" like himself. ”

“ He did not even know what type of conversation was expected of him, but he trusted that the champagne, which he had ordered dry and plentiful, would loosen his own tongue as well as hers.
Grete had employed the last few moments in divesting herself of her cloak and hat, and she now appeared in a gaudy evening dress, displaying charms that, like the Emperor's candlesticks, had the value of antiquity.
"Leave everything on the sideboard," she said to the waiter; "we will wait on ourselves, and you need not come till we ring for you."
The waiter, well trained, arranged the supper-table as directed ”

“ She had evidently hidden the candlesticks in some secure spot, away from the eyes of the police, or, maybe, had already sold them to an accomplice. To find this out was his self-imposed task, and the few moments that elapsed before the waiter returned with the supper, Iván spent in steeling himself to the ordeal.
For a trying ordeal it would surlely be to a young and refined man, unaccustomed to the coarser pleasures of the gay city. ”