"Duke," said Hank, "I want to ask you something."
"Wait till the man is out of the room," said the Duke warningly.
Hank shrugged his broad shoulders.
"He's too interested in his work," he said, "and besides——"
He shrugged again.
"Well, what is it you want?"
"Isn't it time," asked Hank with sinister emphasis, "that you and I shared out the swag?"
The Duke rose and agitatedly paced up and down.
"Let us go into the next room," he said.
The front drawing-room, from the back was divided by a pair of light folding doors. Mr. Nape descended from the chair, and crept noiselessly towards the partition.