England, with her stored wealth,
and her command of the seas--must she always stand between Germany and
her desires? He found himself at once admiring and detesting the English
scene on which he looked. That so much good German money should have to
go into English pockets for these ill-gotten English treasures! What a
country to conquer--and to loot!

"And they are mere children compared to us--silly, thick-headed
children! Yet they have all the plums--everywhere."

* * * * *

Falloden came back. The two men turned eagerly.

"My father thanks you for your offer, gentlemen. He is very sorry he is
not able to see you as he hoped. He is not very well this afternoon. But
I am to say that he will let you have an answer in twenty-four hours.
Then if he agrees to your terms, the matter will have to go before the
court. That, of course, our lawyers explained to you--"

"That will not suit me at all!" cried Herr Schwarz. "As far as your
father is concerned, my offer must be accepted--or rejected--now."

He struck his open hand on the polished mahogany of the table beside
him.

"Then I am very sorry you have had the trouble of coming down," said
Falloden politely. "Shall I order your carriage?"

The great ship-owner stared at him. He was on the point of losing his
temper, perhaps of withdrawing from his bargain, when over Falloden's
head he caught sight of the Titian and the play of light on its shining
armour; of the Van Dyck opposite. He gave way helplessly; gripped at the
same moment by his parvenu's ambition, and by the genuine passion for
beautiful things lodged oddly in some chink of his common and Philistine
personality.

"I have the refusal then--for twenty-four hours?" he said curtly.

Falloden nodded, wrote him a statement to that effect, ordered whisky
and soda, and saw them safely to their carriage.

* * * * *

Then pacing slowly through the rooms, he went back towards the library.
His mind was divided between a kind of huckster's triumph and a sense of
intolerable humiliation. All around him were the "tribal signs" of race,
continuity, history--which he had taken for granted all his life. But
now that a gulf had opened between him and them, his heart clung to them
consciously for the first time. No good! He felt himself cast
out--stripped--exposed. The easy shelter fashioned for him and his by
the lives of generations of his kindred had fall