Page:Arthur Stringer - The Door of Dread.djvu/182

 lost control of his nerves. Even Sadie Wimpel sat a little bewildered by Kestner's unwonted acerbity. Yet she watched him quietly, from under studiously veiled eyes, wondering what his game could possibly be, and just when her chance for a word of warning to him would come.

"Of course your methods are not under question," the smiling Andelman was saying. "But before the two of us can cooperate in this thing we must each know where the other stands."

Kestner did not seem disposed to deny this. He merely became more earnest.

"Then where do you stand with regard to the theft of what they're calling the Wheel Code?" he asked.

Andelman hesitated, with his glance resting questioningly on Wilsnach and the woman at his side.

"You can talk as freely before these two as you can before me," announced Kestner. "But, in the first place, what the devil is the Wheel Code?"

Andelman smiled with patience if not altogether vith pleasure.

"Since your hesitation seems to hinge on some doubt as to my knowledge of official affairs, I'll be very glad to explain a code which, as you probably