"Sternford?"
The change in the man's eyes had deepened. Then his smile came back to them. But that, too, was different. It was curiously fixed and hard.
"You've gone a bit too fast for me," he said. "I don't get things right. Sternford, the man running Sachigo was with you on the Myra? He's here—in Quebec?"
It was Nancy's great moment.
"Yes," she said, with a restraint that failed to disguise her feelings. "He's come down to discuss a business arrangement between the Skandinavia and his enterprise. That's what you wanted—isn't it?"
The man leant forward in his chair. He set his elbows on the desk and supported his chin in both hands. His smile was still there, and his eyes were steadily regarding her. But they expressed none of the surprise and delight Nancy looked for. They were smiling as he literally forced them to smile.
"You brought him down with you—to meet us?" he asked slowly.
The girl nodded.
"You did your work so well that he entertained the notion sufficiently to come along down—with you?"
"I—I—he's come down for that purpose."