“What about us?” Peter demanded. “It seems to me that you had most unpleasant plans for our future.”
Philip Burr held up his hands.
“As I live,” he declared, “this is the first time that any money consideration has induced me to break away from our principles. That Count von Hern, he had powerful friends who were our friends, and he gave me the word, straight, that you two had an appointment down below which was considerably overdue. I don’t know, even now, why I consented. I guess it isn’t much use apologizing.”
Sogrange rose to his feet.
“Well,” he said, “I am not inclined to bear malice, but you must understand this from me, Philip Burr. As a Society, I dissolve you. I deprive you of your title and of your signs. Call yourself what you will, but never again mention the name of the ‘Double-Four.’ With us in Europe, another era has dawned. We are on the side of law and order. We protect only criminals of a certain class, in whose operations we have faith. There is no future for such a society in this country. Therefore, as I say, I dissolve it. Now, if you are ready, perhaps you will be so good as to provide us with the means of reaching our hotel.”
Philip Burr led them into a back street, where his own handsome automobile was placed at their service.
“This kind of breaks me all up,” he declared, as he gave the instructions to the chauffeur. “If there were two men on the face of this earth whom I’d have been proud to meet in a friendly sort of way, it’s you two.”
“We bear no malice, Mr. Burr,” Sogrange assured him. “You can, if you will do us the honor, lunch with us to-morrow at one o’clock at Rector’s. My friend here is quite interested in the Count von Hern, and he would probably like to hear exactly how this affair was arranged.”
“I’ll be there, sure,” Philip Burr promised, with a farewell wave of the hand.
Sogrange and Peter drove back towards their hotel in silence. It was only when they emerged into the civilized part of the city that Sogrange began to laugh softly.