Then the conversation turned on his travels, and he talked of men and things in nearly all the countries of Europe. He seemed to have made friends wherever he had been, and had something to say of the virtues of every people. He had seen with his own eyes and judged for himself, and spoke with a delightful freshness. Many a droll prank he had played in his desire to see things from the inside, here to get into a mosque, there to penetrate into a brigand's cave, and he told his escapades briefly and lightly, as I had never heard man speak before in my life. Despite my longing to be away to Sandtoft, the time passed quickly in his company, and we took our luncheon together pleasantly. But when two o'clock, three o'clock struck, and Drury did not appear, I grew restless and uneasy, and made some excuse for going out. "As you will," said he; "but if you want only a vent for your impatience, pace about, and swear a little. It is long since I have had the pleasure to watch a lover." "And who tells you I am one?" He laughed as I have never heard another man laugh, softly, musically. "Oh, my friend, the name is writ all over you. A blind beggar's card is not so readable. Sighs, fits of silence, eager hearkening for means of flight--a dozen signs make it plain. And besides, what could take a wounded man, still ailing no little, across the fen to Sandtoft, of all places in the world--but Love, the strongest of the most ancient gods, venerable as Chaos and Mother Earth and the Nether Deep?" "You speak like a votary," said I. "Ay, of the god; not, like you, of the priestess. The deity is one; his ministrants are many." To me this was a jangling and jarring note, but there came to my ears the sound of Dame Drury's voice in grumbling welcome of her husband, so I bade my new friend "Good day," and hurried downstairs.