"Didn't want you here, eh?"
"Yes. In fact—well, it's been said that you——"
"Me?"
"Yes—idiotic, isn't it? But it has been said that you were against my coming."
"Oh, nonsense, Major."
"Of course it is. I'm glad you're behind me. I never doubted that you were. It makes things so much easier—and, of course, safer."
"But—but—I tell you, Major Adair, you don't know what we M.P.s have got to stand for! Why, you'd think that the moment a man tacks 'M.P.' after his name he becomes a crook of the first water."
"Yes—strange, isn't it? Never mind, Mr. Molyneux. Your word is good enough for me."
Molyneux puffed angrily at his cigar.
"We're going to get on well, I feel sure," Hector went on. "I feel as if I'd known you years already. Together, we can do wonders. I want the Police here to be safe-guarded from the attacks of unscrupulous politicians—members of the other party, for example. The senior officers are united in this desire. It's pleasing to know I can count on you."