“May I ask what they are?” said Dutch, who began to feel suspicious of the stranger.
“Yes, for I shall betray nothing. First, am I right? Yes,” he said, glancing round, and pointing at the diving suits. “I see I am right. You work under water—dive?”
“That is our business, and the making of apparatus.”
“Apparatus? Oh, yes, I understand. Would you—would Mr Parkley like to make a great fortune?”
“Not a doubt about it,” said Mr Parkley, entering, all hat and comforter. “How do?” he continued, bluffly, as the visitor rose and bowed, and then scanned him searchingly, as hat and comforter were placed once more upon the diving suit.
“This is Mr Parkley, the head of this establishment.”
“I am delighted,” said the stranger, raising his eyebrows, and half-closing his eyes. “Will you, then, read?”
“Thinks I don’t look it, Pugh,” said Mr Parkley aside, as he took the letter handed him, opened it, glanced at the contents and superscription, and then handed it to Dutch.
“Sit down, sir,” he said, sharply, as he perched himself on a stool as jerkily as the stranger resumed his full of grace. “Read it aloud, Mr Pugh.”
Dutch still felt troubled; but he read, in a clear voice, the letter from a well-known English firm at Havana.