“I am glad you appreciate them,” Bernadine remarked dryly.
“I would not for a moment,” De Grost continued, “ask an impertinent or an unnecessary question, but I must confess that I am rather concerned to know the fate of my manager--the gentleman whom you yourself with the aid, I presume, of Mr. Clarkson, so ably represented.”
“Alas!” he said, “your manager was a very obstinate person.”
“Incorruptible, absolutely incorruptible. I congratulate you, De Grost. Your society is one of the most wonderful upon the face of this earth. I know little about it, but my admiration is very sincere. Their attention to details, and the personnel of their staff, is almost perfect. I may tell you at once that no sum that could be offered, tempted either of these men.”
“I am delighted to hear it,” De Grost replied, “but I must plead guilty to a little temporary anxiety as to their present whereabouts.”
“At this moment,” Bernadine remarked, “they are within a few feet of us, but, as you are doubtless aware, access to your delightful river is obtainable from these premises. To be frank with you, my dear Baron, we are waiting for the tide to rise.”
“So thoughtful about these trifles,” De Grost murmured. “But their present position? They are, I trust, not uncomfortable?”
Bernadine stood up and moved to the further end of the office. He beckoned his companion to his side and, drawing an electric torch from his pocket, flashed the light into a dark corner behind an immense bin. The forms of a man and a youth, bound with ropes and gagged, lay stretched upon the floor. De Grost sighed.
“I am afraid,” he said, “that Mr. Greening, at any rate, is most uncomfortable.”
“At least, Baron,” he declared, “if such extreme measures should become necessary, I can promise you one thing--you shall have a quicker passage into Eternity than they.”
“Has it really come to that?” he asked. “Will nothing but so crude a proceeding as my absolute removal satisfy you?”
“Nothing else is, I fear, practicable,” Bernadine replied, “unless you decide to listen to reason. Believe me, my dear friend, I shall miss you and our small encounters exceedingly, but, unfortunately, you stand in the way of my career. You are the only man who has persistently balked me. You have driven me to use against you means which I had grown to look upon as absolutely extinct in the upper circles of our profession.”