“I should think you would be bored to death!” he said simply.

“Ennui, in the ordinary sense, does not exist for a man whose life is devoted to study.  What corresponds to it is a very different thing.  I sometimes feel oppressed with a sense of profound dissatisfaction with what I am doing—­”

“I should think so,” remarked Mr. Barker.  Then, checking himself, he added, “I beg your pardon, don’t misunderstand me.  I can hardly conceive of leading such a life as yours.  I could never be a professor.”

Claudius judged the statement to be strictly true.  Mr. Barker did not look like a professor in the least.  However, the Doctor wanted to be civil.

“Have you just arrived?  Have you seen our sights?”

“Came last night from Baden-Baden.  I have been here before.  You had better come around to my hotel, and take dinner with me.  But first we will drive somewhere and get cool.”

Claudius put on his best coat and combed his hair, apologising to Mr. Barker for the informality.  Mr. Barker watched him, and thought he would make a sensation in New York.

“We might go up to the castle,” said the American, when they were seated in the carriage.  So to the castle they went, and, leaving their carriage at the entrance, strolled slowly through the grounds till they reached the broken tower.

“If they had used dynamite,” said Mr. Barker, “they would have sent the whole thing flying across the river.”

“It would have been less picturesque afterwards,” said Claudius.

“It would have been more effective at the time.”

Claudius was thinking of the dark woman and her parasol, and how he had climbed down there a few weeks before.  To show to himself that he did not care, he told his companion the incident as graphically as he could.  His description of the lady was so graphic that Mr. Barker screwed up his eyes and put out his jaw, so that two great lines circled on his sallow face from just above the nostril, under his heavy moustache to his chin.

“I could almost fancy I had seen her somewhere,” said he.

“Where?” asked Claudius eagerly.

“I thought he would give himself away,” was the American’s terse inward reflection; but he answered coolly—­

“I don’t know, I am sure.  Very likely I am mistaken.  It was pretty romantic though.  Ask me to the wedding, Professor.”

“What wedding?”

“Why, when you marry the fascinating creature with the parasol.”

Claudius looked at Mr. Barker with some astonishment.

“Do you generally manage things so quickly in your country?”

“Oh, I was only joking,” returned the American.  “But, of course, you can marry anybody you like, and why not the dark lady?  On the whole, though, if I were you, I would like to astonish the natives before I left.  Now, you might buy the castle here and turn it into a hotel.”