As he approached them he raised his right hand and, inasmuch as his countenance 403 was calm and benign, his gesture appeared to be one of peace and good-will.
Following close behind him there was a younger man who, very apparently, was of the same lineage. His expression, however, was petulant and haughty and it contained more than a suggestion of rapacity and evil.
Behind him there were others of the same fair type, all of them sumptuously and ornately attired.
Fragoni stepped forward, himself a dignified and striking figure, as the leader of the strange adventurers came forth from the lane that had been formed by his immobile guard of warriors.
The two men confronted each other, one whose power and wealth gave him a dominate position on earth, and the other a personage from some domain that was remote in the abyss of space.
Fragoni bowed and spoke a few friendly words of welcome and the stranger, to the utter amazement of the banker and his associates, responded in an English that was rather peculiar in accent but that they could understand without any difficulty.
“From what part of the world do you come,” asked the astounded Fragoni, “that you speak our language?”
“We come from no part of this world,” replied the stranger. “The empire of my ruler is infinitely far away. But language, my friend, is not a thing of accident. Life grows out of the substance of the universe and language comes out of life. The speech of mankind, in your state of development, varies but little throughout all space and I have heard your English, as you call it, spoken among those who dwell in many, many worlds.”
“And your world?” asked Steinholt with avid curiosity. “Tell us of the planet from which you come.”