“My dear lady, you couldn’t reasonably expect me to plead guilty to a crime which I had not yet committed.”
“Oh, get down to business!” Staff interrupted impatiently. “You’re wasting time—yours as well as ours.”
“Peevish person, your young friend,” Ismay commented confidentially to Alison. “Still, there’s something in what he says. Shall we—ah—begin to negotiate?”
“I think you may as well,” she agreed coldly.
“Very well, then. The case is simple enough. I’m here to offer to secure the return of the Cadogan collar for an appropriate reward.”
“Ten thousand dollars has been offered,” she began.
“Not half enough, my dear lady,” he interposed. “You insult the necklace by naming such a meagre sum—to say nothing of undervaluing my intelligence.”
“So that’s it!” she said reflectively.
“That is it, precisely. I am in communication with the person who stole your necklace; she’s willing to return it for a reward of reasonable size.”
“She? You mean Miss Searle?”