"What makes you think so, sir? Does one swallow make a summer?"
"Would not three in succession lead one to imagine it was near?" Nigel asked again.
"See how the Scotsman answers a question by asking another!" the priest observed with a smile, which was very becoming to his countenance.
"Is that the way of my nation?" Nigel asked.
"In the parts about Haddington!" the priest replied very gently, and Nigel was very much perplexed at the reply. "But did you say just now that you had seen three swallows, or was it three brethren of my order, this morning?"
"I met two on the staircase of the palace this morning, and you are the third!" said Nigel.
"It will have been Father George and Father John. There is a small hostel of our order in Vienna."
"They resembled two gentlemen I met a few days back, two cavaliers!"
"Ah?" said the priest, inviting confidence.
"But they were cavaliers!" said Nigel. "So there was nothing in the resemblance. There seem a good many people in the world who resemble one another!" he added.