“Or,” pursued the stranger, wondering at Mr. Boffin’s wonder, “if you would try me as your man of business under any name, I know you would find me faithful and grateful, and I hope you would find me useful. You may naturally think that my immediate object is money. Not so, for I would willingly serve you a year⁠—two years⁠—any term you might appoint⁠—before that should begin to be a consideration between us.”

“Where do you come from?” asked Mr. Boffin.

“I come,” returned the other, meeting his eye, “from many countries.”

Boffin’s acquaintances with the names and situations of foreign lands being limited in extent and somewhat confused in quality, he shaped his next question on an elastic model.

“From⁠—any particular place?”