Okido shook his head dubiously.
“But should Mr. Beast come in person to your house?”
“We have means of dealing with barbarous dogs,” quoth Matsuda contemptuously, “and the police of this town respect the authority of their masters.”
“But the letters, most Exalted? He will make inquiry.”
“Pah! What of it? Will it be the first time that mail has been lost between this country and America?”
“——so much mail.” Okido moved uneasily. “Excellency, I am afraid of the heavy boot of the barbarian. It was I who kept back for you the letters from the barbarian to the woman. It is said his government is powerful—revengeful. Let me beseech you to give me a sufficient sum to get swiftly away.”
“On the contrary. You must stay here and help me. Besides, you forget the woman Natsu was the one who held the letters. They should weight her sleeves, not yours.”
“Yet, good Excellency, I was the carrier, and——”
“You delivered the letters?”
“Not to the one to whom they were addressed, but to the servant of the foreign devil, who, Exalted, declares she gave them to you.”