“I have, myself, made a very careful estimate—­” he began, insinuatingly.

“No, no, Miklos,—­go away!—­go away!” repeated Schwarz impatiently, almost walking over him.  Miklos retreated sulkily.

Schwarz took up the paper of figures, made an alteration, and handed it to Falloden.

“It is madness,” he said—­“sheer madness.  But I have in me something of the poet—­the Crusader.”

Falloden’s look of slightly sarcastic amusement, as the little man breathlessly examined his countenance, threw the buyer into despair.  Douglas put down the paper.

“We gave you the first chance, Herr Schwarz.  As you know, nobody is yet aware of our intentions to sell.  But I shall advise my father to-night to let one or two of the dealers know.”

“Ach, lieber Gott!” said Herr Schwarz, and walking away to the window, he stood looking into the rose-garden outside, making a curious whistling sound with his prominent lips, expressive, evidently, of extreme agitation.

Falloden lit another cigarette, and offered one to Miklos.

At the end of two or three minutes, Schwarz again amended the figures on the scrap of paper, and handed it sombrely to Falloden.

“Dat is my last word.”

Falloden glanced at it, and carelessly said—­

“On that I will consult my father.”

He left the room.

Schwarz and Miklos looked at each other.

“What airs these English aristocrats give themselves,” said the Hungarian angrily—­“even when they are beggars, like this young man!”

Schwarz stood frowning, his hands in his pockets, legs apart.  His agitation was calming down, and his more prudent mind already half regretted his impetuosity.

“Some day—­we shall teach them a lesson!” he said, under his breath, his eyes wandering over the rose-garden and the deer-park beyond.  The rapidly growing docks of Bremen and Hamburg, their crowded shipping, the mounting tide of their business, came flashing into his mind—­ran through it in a series of images.  This 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—­”