"It was pitch-dark inside as we mounted the stairs one step at a time until we reached the second flight, where the light from a smouldering wick of a fiorentina set in a niche in the wall shed a dim glow. At the sound of our footsteps a door was opened in a passageway on our left, a head thrust out, and as suddenly withdrawn. The same thing happened on the third landing. Diffendorfer paid no attention to these intrusions, and kept on down a long corridor ending in a door. I didn't like the heads--it looked as if they were waiting for Diffendorfer to bring somebody home, and so I slipped my umbrella along in my hand until I could use it as a club, and waited in the dark until he had found the key-hole, unlocked the door, and thrown it open. All I saw was the gray light of the windows opposite this door, which made a dim silhouette of Diffendorfer's figure. Then I heard the scraping of a match, and a gas-jet flashed. "'Come in,' called Diffendorfer, in a cheery tone. 'Wait till I punch up the fire. Here, take this seat,' and he moved a great chair close to the grate. "I have seen a good many rooms in my time, but I must say this one took the breath out of me for an instant. The walls were hung in old tapestries, the furniture was of the rarest. There were three or four old armchairs that looked as if they had been stolen out of the Doge's Palace. "Diffendorfer continued punching away at the fire until it burst into a blaze. "In another moment he was on his feet again, saying he had forgotten something. Then he entered the next room--there were three in the suite--unlocked a closet, brought back a mouldy-looking bottle and two Venetian glasses, moved up a spider-legged, inlaid table, and said, as he placed the bottle and glasses beside me: "'That's the Valpocelli of '71. You needn't worry about helping yourself; I've got a dozen bottles more.' "I thought the game had gone far enough now, and I squared myself and faced him. "'See here, Mr. Diffendorfer,' I said, 'before I take your wine I've got some questions to ask you. I'm going to ask them pretty straight, too, and I want you to answer them exactly in the same way. You have followed me round now for two weeks. You invite me to dinner--a man you have never seen before--and when I come you sit like a bump on a log, and half the time I can't get a word out of you. You spend your money on me like water--none of which I can return, and you know it--and when I tell you I don't like that sort of thing you double the expense. Now, what does it all mean? Who are you, anyway, and where do you come from? If you're all right there's my hand, and you'll find it wide open.' "He dropped into his chair, put his head into his hands for a moment, and said, in a greatly altered tone: "'If I told you, you wouldn't understand.' "'Yes, I would.' "'No, you wouldn't--you couldn't. You've had everything you wanted all your life--I haven't had anything.'