Said, selecting a key from a bunch which he carried, opened one of the
doors, held it ajar for Soames to enter, and permitted it to reclose
behind him.
Soames entered nervously. He found himself in a room identical in size
with his own private apartment; a bathroom, etc., opened out of it in
one corner after the same fashion. But there similarity ended.
The bed in this apartment was constructed more on the lines of a modern
steamer bunk; that is, it was surrounded by a rail, and was raised no
more than a foot from the floor. The latter was covered with a rich
carpet, worked in many colors, and the wall was hung with such paper
as Soames had never seen hitherto in his life. The scheme of this mural
decoration was distinctly Chinese, and consisted in an intricate design
of human and animal figures, bewilderingly mingled; its coloring was
brilliant, and the scheme extended, unbroken, over the entire ceiling.
Cushions, most fancifully embroidered, were strewn about the floor, and
the bed coverlet was a piece of heavy Chinese tapestry. A lamp, shaded
with silk of a dull purple, swung in the center of the apartment, and
an ebony table, inlaid with ivory, stood on one side of the bed; on the
other was a cushioned armchair figured with the eternal, chaotic Chinese
design, and being littered, at the moment, with the garments of the man
in the bed.
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