“Very good, Ivan. I shall not require you again this evening. Go to the theatre—take a night off.”
“Thank you, your excellency.”
The secretary bowed and departed.
Julius stood at the door watching his retreat. Finally, with a satisfied sigh, he closed it, and came back to his position in the centre of the room.
“Now, Mr. Hersheimmer, perhaps you will be so kind as to come to the point?”
“I guess that won’t take a minute,” drawled Julius. Then, with an abrupt change of manner: “Hands up—or I shoot!”
For a moment Kramenin stared blindly into the big automatic, then, with almost comical haste, he flung up his hands above his head. In that instant Julius had taken his measure. The man he had to deal with was an abject physical coward—the rest would be easy.
“This is an outrage,” cried the Russian in a high hysterical voice. “An outrage! Do you mean to kill me?”
“Not if you keep your voice down. Don’t go edging sideways towards that bell. That’s better.”
“What do you want? Do nothing rashly. Remember my life is of the utmost value to my country. I may have been maligned——”