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Rh "Then Lord Stranleigh will be one week away from England, during which time he can communicate with nobody, and nobody can communicate with him?"

"Precisely."

"And what devilment will you be up to meanwhile? How do you intend to use the interval you are willing to pay ten thousand pounds for, my friendly financier?"

Mr. Isaacstein waved his hands back and forward in the air before his face.

"That has nothing to do with you, Mr. John Hazel. What you asked for was a job that had no risk and no police traps. There it is: take it or leave it, and the compensation is ten thousand pounds."

"Will you pay me the money to-morrow?"

"No, I won't."

"Suppose I did this, and attempted to collect for it. How would you advise me to set about the collection?"

"You don't need to set about it. The moment you have done what I ask of you, I'll pay the money."

"You expect me, then, to trust you?"

Isador shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows, but seemed in no way offended at the implied lack of confidence.

"Somebody must trust somebody in transactions of this kind," he said.