On the
other hand, I am perfectly well aware that this is only a feint. It is a
good scheme up to a certain point, of course, although neither your
daughter nor myself could be convicted of conspiracy without the
production of what we are supposed to have stolen. Still, as I said, it
is a good feint, and it has made me curious. I wonder what your real
scheme is! I do not think that you will tell me that."
Phineas Duge smiled.
"You should have been a diplomatist. Mr. Vine," he said. "As a
journalist you are wasted. You might even have achieved what I presume
you would have called infamy, as a financier."
"Ah, well!" Norris Vine said, "the world is full of those who have
missed their vocation. I am content to pass amongst the throng. Can I
offer you anything before you go? A whisky and soda, or a glass
of sherry?"
"I think not, thank you," Phineas Duge said. "You are naturally in a
hurry to keep your luncheon engagement, and I see that my friends have
succeeded in restoring your apartment to some semblance of order. We
part now to pass on to the second stage of our little duel. Understand
that, so far as regards this little matter of business, I have no
special ill-feeling towards you, Mr.
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