"It is a Mr. de Silva. Have you ever met him?"
"No, love, I've not. Is he a foreigner?"
"He's a Portuguese gentleman," said his wife's voice; "and he has been most helpful and most generous."
"Bring him along," said Crotin heartily. "I'll be glad to meet him. How has the sale been, love?"
"Very good indeed," she replied; "splendid, in fact—thanks to Mr. de Silva."
John Crotin was dressing when his wife returned, and it was not until half an hour later that he met Pinto Silva for the first time. Pinto was a man who dressed well and looked well. John Crotin thought he was the most impressive personality he had met, when he stalked into the drawing-room and took the proffered hand of the mill-owner.
"This is Mr. de Silva," said his wife, who had been waiting for her guest. "As I told you, John, Mr. de Silva has been awfully kind. I don't know what you're going to do with all those perfectly useless things you've bought," she added to the polished Portuguese, and Pinto shrugged.
"Give them away," he said; "there must, for example, be a lot of poor women in the country who would be glad of the linen I have bought."
At this point dinner was announced and he took Lady Sybil in. The meal was approaching its end when she revived the question of the disposal of his purchases.
"Are you greatly interested in charities, Mr. de Silva?"