The other tossed it across.
“Pray observe that I trust you,” he said.
“Why not?” said Simon Beaulieu.
He took out the letter, glanced at beginning and end, put it back in its envelope and slid this into a pocket. Then he took out ten packets of notes and laid them upon the table.
“Count them, please,” he said.
The smooth-faced gentleman smiled.
“I always do,” he said, “as a matter of form.”
Each packet contained ten notes—for one hundred pounds apiece.
That this was so The Master proceeded to verify, taking his own time.
Simon stood like a statue.