"Very good of you to leave the door open, Lassen," he said, with a sneering laugh. "Just going to return it to me, eh? I thought I'd dropped it here last night."
There were still minutes enough left for me to put up a show of a struggle, and get in an explanation. So I grabbed hold of him, taking care that he should not get away and also that he kept possession of the ring.
"I was going to send it you, von Erstein. You can see I've begun the letter there."
He stooped to read it and was puzzled. "What the devil does that mean?" he growled.
"I'm willing to come to terms. We both know where I found it."
"How do I know where you put it?"
"Don't lie, man. You know very well that it was on your finger when you left here last night, and"—I paused for the sake of emphasis—"two people saw it there this morning."
This hit him hard, and he winced and drew a deep breath. "Rubbish!" he muttered.
"I've made sure about that. I've just come from your flat, remember," I said meaningly.
"Have you been spreading that lie about me?"