"No, that is impossible;" but he retained his position, notwithstanding.
"What else do you want?" she asked.
The monk answered nothing, but Jan said, "The reverend gentleman would not despise a meal and a small gift, perhaps."
"You can give him both," said Judith, turning again to the child. When she looked up again the monk had followed Jan into the hall.
"Curious," mused Judith. "How did the man find his way here? Even Agenor's letters reach me through the bankers, and what did he want?"
An hour later, during dinner, Jan announced, "The old fellow is still in the servants' hall. Things are not quite in order."
"How?"
"When Hamia took him his dinner, he started. I saw quite plainly how he shuddered and trembled. But she says she does not know him. Then, again, the old man is guzzling more than three young men would. I have warned him that this Veltliner is the devil himself. But he keeps pouring it down, groaning he does not know what to do."
"Give him two francs and send him out of the house," ordered Judith.
Shortly after she was in her sitting-room, writing to Agenor describing this visit, when Hamia came running in, pale as death, and trembling all over.