or Ricordo, who is a rich
man, should have come to a place which was built--well, not as a
money-making concern?" said Briarfield rather brutally.

"Is he rich?" asked the German.

"I thought you told me he was a man of considerable position."

"And what then, Mr. Briarfield? A man may be poor, and still be a
gentleman. I am poor--but I do not say it to boast--I am of the best
families in Germany. My mother was a Von Finkelstein, while the Truebners
are of the best blood in my country. Ah, yes!"

"I am sure I beg your pardon. But I do not see Signor Ricordo."

"Ah, but he is here in The Homestead. Yes, I like that name. It makes me
think of Germany, that word 'homestead.' That is why we Germans and you
English are a great people. No nation can have the feeling so strongly
that they are obliged to have the word 'home' without being a great
people. The French with their _chez vous_, and the Italians with their
_casa sua_, are poor, not only in their language, but in that sublime
quality which makes a people invent the word 'home.' Forgive me for
being prosy; but I like to think that the Germans and the English are
akin. But what was I saying? Oh, yes, Signor Ricordo is in The
Homestead, and he is looking forward to meeting you. When I told him
that you knew our patron saint, he became interested, and asked that he
might have the honour of being introduced. Have you finished? That is
well. We will have our coffee brought into the smoking-room."

As Herbert Briarfield walked behind Herr Truebner into the smoking-room,
he asked himself why he had been so foolish as to accept the latter's
invitation to dine. He knew that Olive had built the place with an idea
of charity, and although he had no doubt that Herr Truebner was of a good
German family, he did not relish dining with a number of impecunious
people. As he entered, however, he no longer regretted that he had come,
for, sitting in the corner of the room, he saw the man who had aroused
his interest so strongly the night before, and whom he had really come
to see.

CHAPTER XX

HERBERT BRIARFIELD AND THE STRANGER

Signor Ricordo rose as Herr Truebner and Herbert Briarfield came up to
him. As he did so, the latter noticed that he was of more than ordinary
height, and that he was evidently a man of great muscular strength. But
he quickly forgot the stranger's physical proportions as he realised
that peculiar quality in the man's presence, to indicate which