“I came here for an excellent and peaceful purpose. To advise you to return at once to South America. If you do so, that is the end of the matter as far as the Big Four are concerned. You and yours will not be molested in any way. I give you my word as to that.”
I laughed scornfully.
“And if I refuse to obey your autocratic command?”
“It is hardly a command. Shall we say that it is—a warning?”
There was a cold menace in his tone.
“The first warning,” he said softly. “You will be well advised not to disregard it.”
Then, before I had any hint of his intention, he rose and slipped quickly away towards the door. I sprang to my feet and was after him in a second, but by bad luck I cannoned straight into an enormously fat man who blocked the way between me and the next table. By the time I had disentangled myself, my quarry was just passing through the doorway, and the next