"Was Mr. Wrenmarsh always as peculiar as he is now?" he asked.
"I'm not able to tell you that," she returned, "as I have no means of knowing how much he has changed; but when I knew him he was the most extraordinary creature. He was always offended if people didn't notice his eccentricities, and if they did he jibed at their provincialism. He said he had to become an Englishman because our civilization was so crude, and he never forgave Bostonians for being so little concerned by his change of nationality."
"You seem to have picked up rather a choice acquaintance, Jerry," observed Jack good-naturedly.
"Oh, Mr. Wrenmarsh became utterly impossible," Mrs. Fairhew continued. "He really had a lot of ability, and I'm told that now he's done some remarkable things in getting antiques for the British Museum. His own people couldn't get on with him at all."
"What an extraordinary creature he must be!" commented Katrine. "Did you take him for a wild man, Mr. Taberman, when you found him wandering about among the ruins of Pæstum?"
"No," Jerry returned, rather regretting that he had continued the talk about Mr. Wrenmarsh. "He came into the little hovel of an inn there while I was trying to get something to eat."
"Well, anyway I hope he'll get his things safe," she added. "They're his, and the government has no right to interfere with him."
"I hope he may," Tab responded rather dispiritedly.
Breakfast being ended, the ladies betook themselves to their rooms to rest after the fatigues of their night of travel.