“Thank you. Suppose we talk seriously. I said I looked on you as an embarrassment. You seem to think that you are a menace.” He shook his head, reprovingly. “I’ll tell you. From something Adèle has said you imagine that you can get hold of people who might testify against me. If you had any vision you would understand that I shall see that those people are out of your reach. You’ll never get evidence against me that would hang a cat. I hate to see you wasting your time, for, although you may not believe it, I’ve developed a kind of liking for you. Now here’s a little proposition for you to think over. I’m going out of the game⁠—going to settle down and get married. Oh, you may sneer, but I mean it. I’ve made all the money I want and I’m going to enjoy myself. I might get out of the country and snap my fingers at the lot of you. But I don’t want any petty annoyances cropping up. I’ll buy you off at your own figure. What do you say?”

His tone was that of a business man putting a case to another business man. Labar burst into laughter. “More comic stuff?”