he wars in High Germanie.

Since that date, no direct word had come from the young man, only the
rumour grew that in the storming of some town he had fallen. Years had
passed since then; years that came and went and brought neither
confirmation nor denial of the rumour. In Helen's heart hope at last was
killed, and with the death of hope seemed to die all that had ever been
womanly or soft in her character. The one tender spot left was a kind of
pitying affection for her weak old father.

Now, as they two sat here together this bitter winter evening, the old
man grumbling, as ever, half to himself, half to his daughter, of the
ill-luck that had steadily dogged him all his days, there came suddenly
to them the sound of horses' feet on the stones of the courtyard
outside, and presently one of the few remaining servants entered the
room to say that a stranger was outside begging shelter for himself and
for his groom. Nor did the stranger wait to be invited, for, brushing
past the servant, and carelessly, as he entered, dusting from his
riding-coat the light snow with which it was grimed, taking stock the
while with pinched-up little grey eyes of the room and its occupants, he
pulled in a chair towards the fire and coolly seated himself. He was a
man considerably over fifty--probably nearer sixty than fifty--with a
frame burly and coarse, and a face seared by tropical suns and
disfigured by the ravages of small-pox; obviously a man of low origin
whose mind probably lacked refinement or consideration for others as
much as his body lacked grace.

Father and daughter for a minute gazed mutely at their uninvited guest,
the girl at least in no very amiable mood. But whatever her father's
faults might be, want of hospitality was not one of them, and what the
house could supply of meat and drink was speedily set before the
stranger. He was, as he made haste to inform them, the new owner of the
property, come down to take possession. "And egad! sir," said he
brusquely, "it strikes me it's not before it was time. There's a bit o'
money wanted here, anybody can see with half an eye." And with choice
criticisms of a similar nature he lightened the time in the intervals of
shovelling food into his heavy-lipped mouth.

"Yes, I've bought it--and paid for it, too--lock, stock, and barrel," he
resumed; "and we'll put things to rights in a brace of shakes. For
what's the use o' having money, says I, if a man don't spend it on his
whim!