“So, Michaela,” Vernon said. “You can only imagine my surprise when one day, the same man that had just been passing through only a few years before—and left quite the impression while he was here, I must say—comes walk’in back into me tavern, half naked!” He shouted out the last part boisterously, slapping his knee.

Michaela sat forward on her seat, more alert than before. “I can’t imagine!” she said. “Tell me!”

Holding up a hand, Vernon ...