apparently out of space--"

"A German professor, seven or eight feet high, who bounded after the
sunshade, and bounded back and bowed and left you to your astonishment.
Is not that what you were going to say, Countess?"

"I believe you are a medium," said the Countess, looking at Barker in
astonishment. "But perhaps you only guessed it. Can you tell me what he
was like, this German professor?"

"Certainly. He had long yellow hair, and a beard like Rip van Winkle's,
and large white hands; and he was altogether one of the most striking
individuals you ever saw."

"It is evident that you know him, Mr. Barker, and that he has told you
the story. Though how you should have known it was I--"

"Guess-work and my friend's description."

"But how do you come to be intimate with German professors, Mr. Barker?
Are you learned, and that sort of thing?"

"He was a German professor once. He is now an eccentricity without a
purpose. Worth millions, and living in a Heidelberg garret, wishing he
were poor again."

"What an interesting creature! Tell me more, please."

Barker told as much of Claudius's history as he knew.