The landlord, with flushed face and greasy apron, appeared on the porch and asked: "What do you want ?" "Supper and bed," was the answer, and the little girl raised her eyes to the host, giving him a tired hungry stare.
The proprietor of the inn looked at them suspiciously for a moment, and then, as if doubting their ability to remunerate him for his accommodations, asked: "Have you money to pay for that which you ask ?" "I have," and the mysterious stranger drew from an inside pocket of his blouse a heavy leathern purse.

Unfastening its strings he emptied its contents, golden guineas, into his own hands, as if to prove that he had the wherewithal to pay for himself and child.

The sight of so much gold caused the landlord's eyes to sparkle with delight, and he said: "You can have what you ask!" The stranger returned his money to his purse and put it in the pocket of his blouse.

There was an air of mystery about the stranger which puzzled the landlord, and he stood gazing at him, his brow gathered into a knot of wrinkles as if trying to solve some intricate problem.

The man was sparing of his words; but when he did speak there was something terrible in his voice; it was deep and heavy like the roar of a cannon.