He took out a cigarette and a lighter, and Simon found his eyes riveted on the device. It was of an uncommon shape, and by some means or other it produced a glowing heat instead of a flame. Quite unconscious of his own temerity, the Saint said: "That's something new, isn't it? I've never seen a lighter like that before."
Mr. Teal sat back blankly and gave the Saint a look which would have shrivelled any other interrupter to a cinder; and Costello turned the lighter over and said: "It's an invention of my own — I made it myself."
"I wish I could do things like that," said the Saint admiringly. "I suppose you must have had a technical training."
Costello hesitated for a second. Then:
"I started in an electrical engineering workshop when I was a boy," he explained briefly, and turned back to Teal's desk.
After a considerable pause the detective turned to the tubby man with glasses, who had been sitting without any signs of life except the ceaseless switching of his eyes from one speaker to another.
"Are you in partnership with Mr. Costello, Mr. Hammel?" he asked.
"A working partnership — yes."
"Do you know any more about Enstone's affairs than Mr. Costello has been able to tell us?"
"I'm afraid not."