Page:Barr--Stranleighs millions.djvu/210

198 "You believe, then, that there is honour among thieves?"

"Well, I don't know that I should go so far as to say that, Mr. Hazel. You've had a good deal of money from me, and I've never had any return for it, yet you are called the Honourable John. No, I shouldn't say that all thieves feel that sense of honour you speak of; still, I can vouch for one, and say that whatever I promise to pay, I'll pay. You will get the ten thousand pounds if you do the job. If you don't, you won't.

"In plain words, you mean, Mr. Isaacstein, that if you paid the money down you think I would not give value for it?"

"No, I don't believe anything of the kind, Mr. Hazel. I believe that one difficulty after another would come up. You would say, as you have already said with your transactions concerning Lord Stranleigh, that you had done your best. The money would be gone; you couldn't repay me, but you would declare your willingness to return the ten thousand as soon as you got it. You never would get it, so there would be the end."

"But suppose Stranleigh is invited by somebody else?"

"That's easily found out. It's to-morrow now," said the magnate, looking at his watch. "It's nearly two o'clock. We've been gassing here for