“So you will not offer me a room where I might spend a few days as one who shares your religion?” said the man, the insistency returning to his tone.

“It is not that I will not,” replied the baron calmly. “It is simply that my family and I have other duties that demand our attention. I am very sorry. But if you are hungry, I can offer you food.”

“That will not be necessary,” said the man stiffly.

The baron rose, and the stranger with him.

They left the room, and the baron saw the man outside. Without further words of farewell, the stranger began walking away from the house.

The baron watched him for a few moments, then returned inside. As he strode quickly up to his office, it suddenly dawned on him that the man had never given his name.

He entered his study and walked quickly across to the window. The fellow had veered to the far western edge of the driveway and was peering about, attempting to gain a vantage point from which he might see around the side of the house and into the backyard. Then he continued his way around the circle, now snooping about the north side.

At length he paused and turned straight back toward the house, glancing up, as if drawn by his gaze, straight to the corner window where the baron stood. For a moment, though they were too far apart to see one another clearly, they seemed to look straight into each other’s eyes. Then the man turned and made his way down the driveway through the trees, and finally disappeared from sight.

Another ten minutes the baron watched, then suddenly saw a car moving northward towards Niedersdorf. It had not come along the road from the south. Even from the great distance from which the baron was observing, it looked suspiciously familiar, and gave every indication of having been waiting for the strange visitor somewhere hidden from sight along the road.

He left his office and returned downstairs, where he met Marion waiting for him.

“You can tell everyone it is safe now,” he said, “although we must henceforth be on our guard.”

“What did he want?” Marion asked.

Her husband recounted the gist of the conversation as they walked together back to the dining room.

“Could he have been a brother, Heinrich?” asked Marion.

“Not unless I am woefully mistaken. May God forgive me if I have erred.”

“You are certain, are you not? Otherwise you would never have sent him away.”

“Yes, I suppose I am certain. It so goes against my grain to judge another. I’m afraid I set the man up.”

“What do you mean?”

“I tricked him into exposing that he was not telling the truth.”

“How?”