"We have our private information bureau in the opposite camp."
"Ah! Anyone I know?"
"That's immaterial."
"I think I deserve your confidence."
"Have you given us yours?"
Barraclough lit a cigarette.
"Oh, very well," he said. "So I'm to be kidnapped."
"At twelve precisely," Cranbourne nodded. "In the course of the next three days Van Diest will try the persuasion of bribes and failing success you disappear, my friend, for a short inquisition."
Barraclough shut his fists tight.
"By God," he said. "So that's the way of it. Three days, what! I'll break through that damned ring if it kills me."