"No hope?"
"None."
Ronnie Fish surveyed the dancers below with a grave eye. He removed the stub of his cigarette from its eleven-inch holder, and recharged that impressive instrument.
"Did you reason with the old pest?"
"You can't reason with my uncle Lester."
"I could," said Mr. Fish.
Hugo did not doubt this. Ronnie, in his opinion, was capable of any feat.
"Yes, but the only trouble is," he explained, "you would have to do it at long range. I asked if I might invite you down to Rudge and he would have none of it."
Ronnie Fish relapsed into silence. It seemed to Hugo, watching him, that that great brain was busy, but upon what train of thought he could not conjecture.
"Who are those people you're with?" he asked at length.