For a time he looked at me very earnestly.
"H-m," he said. "That just bears out what we have been able to ascertain about you. It puzzled us how a man of your known ability acted the way you did. From the moment you landed in England, all the time you were doing your work, even after your arrest, in prison and in court you show a sort of listless, almost an indifferent attitude. If I may put it this way, you seemed in noways keen to go to extremes in any possible missions you might have had," he paused. "We think you could have done more than you did... The mildness of your sentence, has it surprised you?"
I grinned.
"Nothing surprises me, Captain."
His manner became very earnest.
"Supposing," he said, "we show you that it was a quasi-deliberate intention on the part of your employers to have you caught--what then?"
This did not startle me either. I had an idea of that all along. It is why I played my cards so quietly, why I did not accomplish in England everything I had a chance to accomplish. I did not grin this time.
"Under those circumstances," I said, "I am open to negotiations. But I am rather deaf and my vision is very much obscured as long as I see bars in front of my window."
The Captain smiled:
"Well, Doctor, I may see you again soon."