His methods of roping were less primitive than those of Matthew Keld, but they were equally efficient. When he had finished, only four Houdinis could have restored Messrs. Arne, Ganning, Keld, and Harver to the position of mobile actors in the scene. Essenden, however, he left. "You might," he suggested to Jill, "want to ask his lordship a few questions. And I might want this rope's end to encourage him to answer."
He made a long yard of rope whistle horrifically through the air; but the girl shook her head.
"He's already started to answer."
Simon raised his eyebrows.
"Have you rung a bell?"
Essenden spoke in a cracked voice: "Of course I've answered. Why shouldn't I have meant what I said in my advertisement? But I thought you might think my advertisement was a trap, so I had to protect myself. That's the only reason I brought these other men into it."
"A beautiful bunch!" murmured the Saint skeptically. His leisured gaze swept over the quartet like a genial blizzard. "I think I know them all. I know about Red Harver's seven years for manslaughter — which ought to have been a quick hanging for murder. I know all about Brother Matthew and the Waikiki Club. I know how Flash Arne gets the money to buy his diamond rings. And I've met Snake Ganning before. Say 'how d'you do,' Snake."
"I admit all that," said Essenden fretfully, "but—"
"What you mean," said Jill Trelawney calmly, "is that you laid a trap for us, but we've made you the pigeon. You're in the soup you brewed for Simon and me. Your gay little party has kind of bust. And now, to save your skin, you're prepared to reopen your original offer. Having flopped on the double-cross, you're anxious to hurry back to the first bargain. Isn't that it?"
She had no grounds for asking whether that was it. But then, the question was almost purely rhetorical. What she was actually doing was to point out to Essenden the only course of action that was left open to him. She wasn't asking a question at all — she was commanding. Persuasively she spoke, in a quiet and reasonable voice, with sudden death aimed steadily from her hand, and murder in the clear tawny eyes like two drops of frozen gold.