Page:The council of seven.djvu/180

 *temptuous shoulders. Every sense keenly strung, he had been apprised by this overt act even before it came.

"My good friends have done me the honor," Lien Weng continued in a voice whose timbre was persuasion itself, "to invite me to conduct these wholly informal proceedings."

"And you might add 'wholly illegal' while you are about it," said the Colossus with a sudden gust of anger.

Lien Weng raised a finger with a gravity verging upon the pontifical. "Legal—illegal—are words—words. This Court—this Council of Seven deals only with realities."

"Golf balls a shilling!" In order to express an utter contempt the Colossus spat in the fire.

"Words—phrases!" The courtesy of a very old civilization rooted in an immemorial past was in the deep smile of Lien Weng. "I ask you, sir, to believe that as far as this world is concerned we are about to deal with a matter of life and death."

Another gust of rage swept Saul Hartz. "About to murder me, eh?" he said savagely, "as you murdered Garland the other day, not to mention Kornileff the Russian, and Yamotoga the Jap, and heaven knows who besides!"

When the Colossus had spoken he got up from his chair.

"Be seated, pray," said Lien Weng with his priest's smile. "It will be more agreeable for all if you stay as you were."