“A Frenchman—Mr Jean Adam, of Constantinople.” Statham’s face never moved a muscle. Of this he was already quite well aware.
“An old friend of yours, I suppose?”
“Not—not exactly an old friend. I met him for the first time about a month or so ago,” responded Max.
“And what do you know of him?”
“Nothing much except that I believe him to be a man of the highest integrity and the possessor of many friends interested in high finance.”
“Oh! and what causes you to believe that?”
“Well, we first met in Paris, where, having mooted the idea of a partnership, he introduced me to several well-known people, among them Baron Tellier, who arranged the match monopoly of Turkey, and Herr Hengelmann, of Frankfort, whom, no doubt, you know as the concessionaire of the German railway from the Bosphorus to Bagdad.”
The old man gave vent to a dissatisfied grant.
“Both men stand very high in the financial world, do they not?” Max asked.
“Well—they did,” replied old Sam, smiling.