sale running into a considerable sum,
and we would have it court proof."

He made a graceful gesture with his jeweled hand.

"I would be secure in my purchase, and Zindorf in his eagles, and you,
Sir, in the knowledge that the State will not be vexed by any suit
between us. Every contract, I believe, upon some theory of the law, is
a triangular affair with the State a party. Let us say then, that you
represent Virginia!"

"In the service of the commonwealth," replied my father coldly, "I am
always to be commanded."

The man flicked a bit of dust from his immaculate coat sleeve.

"It will be a conference of high powers. I shall represent Eros; Mr.
Pendleton, Virginia; and Zindorf" and he laughed--"his Imperial Master!"

And to the eye the three men fitted to their legend. The Hellenic God
of pleasure in his sacred groves might have chosen for his disciple one
from Athens with a face and figure like this youth. My father bore
the severities of the law upon him. And I have written how strange a
creature the third party to this conference was.

He now answered with an oath.

"You have a very pretty wit, Mr. Lucian Morrow," he said. "I add to my
price a dozen eagles for it."

The young man shrugged his shoulders in his English coat.

"Smart money, eh, Zindorf... Well, it does not make me smart. It only
makes me remember that Count Augsburg educated you in Bavaria for the
Church and you fled away from it to be a slave trader in Virginia."

He got on his feet, and my father saw that the man was in liquor. He
was not drunken, but the effect was on him with its daring and its
indiscretions.

It was an April morning, bright with sun. The world was white with apple
blossoms, the soft air entered through the great open windows. And my
father thought that the liquor in the man had come with him out of a
night of bargaining or revel.

Morrow put his hands on the table and looked at Zindorf; then, suddenly,
the laughter in his face gave way to the comprehension of a swift,
striking idea.

"Why, man," he cried, "it's the devil's truth! Everything about you is a
negation! You ought to be a priest by all the lines and features of you;
but you're not... Scorch me, but you're not!"

His voice went up on the final word as though to convey some impressive,
sinister discovery.

It was true in every aspect of the man. The very clothes he wore,
somber, wool-threaded homespun, crudely patched, reminded one of the
coarse fab