"You tell your fortune, eh?"
"Dear me, no! I can wait for that to develop. A mere game of patience, nothing more."
"There are times, Mr. Torrington, when action is of more value than patience."
"I treasure your opinion," came the smiling rejoinder. "What was it you were saying? A man of yours saw Barraclough? Was that all he did?"
"Not a very smart man that."
"But you've others—smarter?"
"Mus' not let ourselves be beat, y'know."
"So galling isn't it?"
"I haf no experience," retorted Van Diest, and rising crossed to a canary cage in the window where, to Mr. Torrington's silent indignation, he spent quite a long while whistling and saying "Sweet sweet" to the little inmate.
"But what if you are beaten already, Van Diest? Anthony Barraclough is on his way home presumably with the concession in his pocket."