Page:Biggers and Ritchie - Inside the Lines.djvu/80

, for this minute my temptation is strong—very strong—to shoot you for the dog you are."

"Is this—ah, customary?" Woodhouse twiddled the tiny mercury tube between his fingers and looked unflinchingly at the small round mouth of the automatic. "Do you make a practise of consulting a—friend with a revolver at your hip?"

"You heard—what was said in there!" Koch's forehead was curiously ridged and flushed with much blood.

"Did you ask me to listen? Surely, my dear Doctor, you have provided doors that are soundproof. If I may suggest, isn't it about time that you explain this—this melodrama?" The captain's voice was cold; his lips were drawn to a thin line. Koch's big head moved from side to side with a gesture curiously like that of a bull about to charge, but knowing not where his enemy stands. He blurted out:

"For your information, if you did not overhear: An Englishman comes just now to address me familiarly as of the Wilhelmstrasse. He comes to say he was sent to report to me; that his number in the Wilhelmstrasse is