“I’m not quite on,” he remarked. “What’s the trouble?”
“There is no trouble, fortunately,” Peter replied. “Only a little disappointment for our friends the Count von Hern and Major Kosuth. I have brought you some information which I think will put an end to that affair of the loan.”
Mr. Heseltine-Wrigge sat quite still for a moment. He brows were knitted, he showed no signs of nervousness.
“Go right on,” he said.
“The security upon which you were going to advance a million and a half to the Turkish Government,” Peter continued, “consisted of two Dreadnoughts and a cruiser, being built to the order of that country by Messrs. Shepherd & Hargreaves at Belfast.”
“Quite right,” Mr. Heseltine-Wrigge admitted, quietly. “I have been up and seen the boats. I have seen the shipbuilders, too.”
“Did you happen to mention to the latter,” Peter inquired, “that you were advancing money upon those vessels?”
“Certainly not,” Mr. Heseltine-Wrigge replied. “Kosuth wouldn’t hear of such a thing. If the papers got wind of it, there’d be the devil to pay. All the same, I have got an assignment from the Turkish Government.”
“Not worth the paper it’s written on,” Peter declared, blandly.
Mr. Heseltine-Wrigge rose unsteadily to his feet. He was a strong, silent man, but there was a queer look about his mouth.