“I don’t expect anything from you,” Lisle informed him. “In proof of it, I’ll mention that I called to tell Gladwyne he must keep you off of Jim Crestwick.”
He made a slip in the last few words, which the other quickly noticed.
“Ordered him, in fact,” he said.
Lisle made no answer and Batley resumed:
“You have some kind of a hold on Gladwyne; so have I. Of course, it’s no news to you. I’m a little curious to learn what yours consists of.”
“Why?”
“It struck me that we might work together.”
“I’m not going in for card-sharping or anything of that kind!”
The man seemed roused by this, but he mastered his anger.
“Civility isn’t expensive and sometimes it’s wise,” he observed. “I won’t return the compliment; in fact, I’ll credit you with the most disinterested motives. All I mean is that I might help you and you might help me. I’m not quite what you seem to think I am, and if I can get my money back out of Gladwyne I won’t harm him.”