Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 29, 2025
When the door had closed behind them, Strangwise pointed to a chair and pulled out his cigarette case. "Sit down, Desmond," he said, "and let's talk. Will you smoke?" He held out his case. A cigarette was the one thing for which Desmond craved. He took one and lit it. Strangwise sat down on the other side of a curiously carved ebony table, his big automatic before him.
"Ask him!" said Desmond, raising his arm, "he knows!" The group around the door had broken up. Strangwise, his wrists handcuffed together, his hair dishevelled and his collar torn, stood there between two plain clothes men. And at him Desmond pointed. Strangwise was staring at the straight, square figure of the gunner, awkwardly attired in one of Desmond's old suits.
All had listened to his story with the deepest interest, especially Strangwise, who never took his eyes off the gunner's brown face.
The Chief had kept his own counsel about their morning's work. Desmond was glad now that he had dissimulated. "You see, I know her pretty well," Strangwise continued, "between ourselves, I got rather struck on the lady when she was touring in Canada some years ago, and in fact I spent so much more money than I could afford on her that I had to discontinue the acquaintance.
"There is a type of man who is quite incapable of telling the plain, unvarnished truth. That type of fellow might have the most extraordinary adventure happen to him and yet be unable to let it stand on its merits. When he narrates it, he trims it up with all kinds of embroidery. Is Strangwise that type?" Desmond thought a moment. "Your silence is very eloquent," said the Chief drily.
And Strangwise, spy and murderer, had escaped and was now free to reorganize his band after he had put Barbara and Desmond out of the way. The thought was so unbearable that it stung Desmond into action.
Nur-el-Din was terrified of Mortimer; for so much she had admitted to Desmond that very afternoon; she was terrified of Strangwise, too, it seemed, of this Strangwise who, like Mortimer, kept appearing at every stage of this bewildering affair. What confession had been on Nur-el-Din's lips when she had broken off that afternoon with the cry: "Already I have said too much!"
The red and black setting of the room had a suggestion of Oriental cruelty in its very garishness. Desmond looked from Strangwise, cool and smiling, to Bellward, gross and beastly, and from the two men to Barbara, wan and still and defenceless. And he was afraid. Then Bellward scrambled clumsily to his feet, plucking a revolver from his inside pocket as he did so.
Barbara was so much taken aback that she instinctively glanced over her shoulder at the door, thinking that the dancer had seen something there to frighten her. But the door was shut. When Barbara looked into the mirror again, she saw only the reflection of Nur-el-Din's pretty neck and shoulders. The dancer was talking again in low tones to Strangwise.
An officer was standing there in a worn uniform, a very shabby kit-bag by his side, a dirty old Burberry over his arm. "Okewood!" said the young man and touched the other on the shoulder, "isn't it Desmond Okewood? By Jove, I am glad to see you!" The new-comer turned quickly. "Why, hullo," he said, "if it isn't Maurice Strangwise!
Word Of The Day
Others Looking