"Yes sir."
Simon Templar drew a deep breath. The foundations of the world were spinning giddily around his ears but his natural resilience was unconquerable. He took out a handkerchief and mopped his brow.
"In that case," he said contentedly, "I'm sure we can do business. What do you say, Jacqueline?"
Jacqueline clutched his arm and nodded breathlessly.
"Hlgagtsk sweghlemlgl," beamed Mr. Ive.
Part V
The benevolent burglary
"Louis Umbert?" Simon Templar repeated vaguely. "I don't know…. I think 1 read something about him in a newspaper some time ago, but I'm blowed if I can remember what it was. I can't keep track of every small-time crook in creation. What's he been doing?"
"I just thought you might know something about him," Chief Inspector Teal answered evasively.
He sat on the edge of a chair and turned his bowler hat in his pudgy hands, looking almost comically like an elephantine edition of an office-boy trying to put over a new excuse for taking an afternoon off. He glowered ferociously around the sunny room in which Simon was calmly continuing to eat breakfast, and racked his brain for inspiration to keep the interview going.