The officer nodded.
"Can it be put off until tomorrow?"
"Absolutely impossible, sir. The best I can do is to defer its execution until late tonight. Even then I am taking a risk."
Steppe tugged at his little beard.
"Make it tonight," he said, "I'll undertake that he doesn't leave the country—you won't let him know, of course?"
"No, sir."
If Steppe had offered as much money as he could command to secure the escape of his victim, the bribe would have been rejected. But a postponement of arrest—that was another matter.
"Thank you, inspector."
"Thank you, sir; I shall put a couple of men on to watch him. I must do that, he will never know."
Steppe went back to the dining room very much occupied.