‘Nothing, I assure you, to what I should have been in if it had not occurred,’ said I composedly.
A start and a murmur ran round the group. The captain looked uncomfortable.
‘With his Excellency’s plans we have nothing to do—’ he began.
‘Aye, but I have,’ said I. ‘And when I tell you—’
‘Gentlemen,’ said the captain hastily, ‘leave us alone for a little while.’
I saw at once that I had made an impression. It seemed not difficult to create an impression adverse to Mouraki now that he was dead, though it had not been wise to display one when he was alive.
‘I don’t know,’ said I, when we were left alone together, ‘whether you knew the relations between the late Pasha and myself?’
‘No,’ said he in a steady voice, looking me full in the face.
‘It was not, perhaps, within the sphere of your duty to know them?’ I hazarded.