"Murder in cold blood?" he managed to say.
"Indefinite imprisonment. Choose."
"I have chosen."
"H'm!" Braine rose and went over to the sideboard for the brandy. "I'm going to offer you a drink to show you that personally there are no hard feelings. You are in the way. After you, our friend, Jones. This brandy is not poisoned, neither are the glasses. Choose either and I'll drink first. We are all desperate men, Norton; and we stop at nothing. Your life hangs by a hair. Do you know where Hargreave is?"
Norton eyed his liquor thoughtfully.
"Do you know where the money is?"
Norton smelt of the brandy.
"I am sorry," said Braine. "I should have liked to win over a head like yours."
Norton nonchalantly took out his watch, and that bit of bravado perhaps saved his life. In the case of his watch he saw a brutal face behind him. Without a tremor, Norton took up his glass.
"I am sorry to disappoint you," he said, "but I shall neither join you nor go to by-by."