“By that time my ideas will have developed, and I may be able to put before you a definite proposition,” said Salmoros. “I have an unpretentious little lunch served here every day when I have no outside engagements. You will honour me by partaking of it. I cannot speak very highly of the cuisine; it is quite simple, but I shall be able to give you a very decent bottle of wine.”
“A thousand thanks, Baron.” Nello smiled inwardly at his host’s apologies for the simplicity of the meal. This rich man did not know, and perhaps it was better he should not know, the depths of the poverty to which his guest had descended, how often he had gone to bed half famished.
At the appointed hour he returned. The same young man who had previously received him showed him into a small room, no less well furnished than the other.
A round dining-table was laid for two. As he had expected, it was to be a tête-à-tête meal. He had just time to notice the beautiful appointments of the table, the snowy napery, the rare old silver, the exquisite glass, when Salmoros entered. A moment later the meal was served, simple in its elements, but perfectly cooked.
The wine served during the few courses was champagne. The Baron had a couple of glasses at both lunch and dinner; he believed in its stimulating properties.
Then a bottle of claret of the finest vintage was put on the table, and the financier produced some perfect cigars. There was no doubt that Baron Andreas Salmoros had a great respect for his creature comforts. A man of the profoundest intellect, he was also an artist and an epicure.
“Now, my young friend,” he said as he puffed at his excellent cigar with every appearance of enjoying to the full its flavour and perfume. “We will talk. Help yourself to that claret; I can recommend it.”
Nello did as he was requested. His head was swimming a little from the unaccustomed champagne, but he had no desire to forfeit the Baron’s good graces by proclaiming himself a weakling. If this was how people in the great world lived, he must pretend to be used to it.
He waited respectfully for the great man to unfold the plan that would perhaps change his whole life and open out to him a new world. Of course he was shrewd enough to guess that whatever was proposed would be as much in the Baron’s interests as his own.