“My father will be pleased to see you, when you have been the round of the pictures,” said Douglas stiffly.  “He deputes me to show you what we have.”

The short man laughed.

“I expect we know what you have almost as well as you.  Let me introduce Mr. Miklos.”

Douglas bowed, so did the younger man.  He was, as Douglas already knew, a Hungarian by birth, formerly an official in one of the museums of Budapest, then at Munich, and now an “expert” at large, greatly in demand as the adviser of wealthy men entering the field of art collecting, and prepared to pay almost anything for success in one of the most difficult and fascinating chasses that exist.

“I see you have given this room almost entirely to English pictures,” said Mr. Miklos politely.  “A fine Constable!”—­he pointed to the picture they had just been considering—­“but not, I think, entirely by the master?”

[Illustration:  Herr Schwarz was examining a picture with a magnifying glass when Falloden entered]

“My great-grandfather bought it from Constable himself,” said Douglas.  “It has never been disputed by any one.”

Mr. Miklos did not reply, but he shook his head with a slight smile, and walked away towards a Turner, a fine landscape of the middle period, hanging close to the Constable.  He peered into it short-sightedly, with his strong glasses.

“A pity that it has been so badly relined,” he said presently, to Douglas, pointing to it.

“You think so?  Its condition is generally thought to be excellent.  My father was offered eight thousand for it last year by the Berlin Museum.”

Douglas was now apparently quite at his ease.  With his thumbs in the armholes of his white waistcoat, he strolled along beside the two buyers, holding his own with both of them, thanks to his careful study of the materials for the history of the collection possessed by his father.  The elder man, a Bremen ship-owner,—­one Wilhelm Schwarz—­who had lately made a rapid and enormous fortune out of the Argentine trade, and whose chief personal ambition it now was to beat the New York and Paris collectors, in the great picture game, whatever it might cost, was presently forced to take some notice of the handsome curly-headed youth in the perfectly fitting blue serge suit, whose appearance as the vendor, or the vendor’s agent, had seemed to him, at first, merely one more instance of English aristocratic stupidity.

As a matter of fact, Herr Schwarz was simply dazzled by the contents of Flood Castle.  He had never dreamt that such virgin treasures still existed in this old England, till Miklos, instructed by the Falloden lawyer, had brought the list of the pictures to his hotel, a few days before this visit.  And now he found it extremely difficult to conceal his excitement and delight, or to preserve, in the presence of this very sharp-eyed young heir, the proper “don’t care” attitude of the buyer.  He presently left the “running down” business almost entirely to Miklos, being occupied in silent and feverish speculations as to how much he could afford to spend, and a passion of covetous fear lest somehow A——­, or Z——­, or K——­, the leading collectors of the moment, should even yet forestall him, early and “exclusive” as Miklos assured him their information had been.