Jadwin nodded, glancing up under his scowl.

“Hello!” he said.

The other subsided into a chair, and returned scowl for scowl.

“Oh, well,” he muttered, “if that’s your style.”

He had observed Hargus sitting by the other side of the desk, still fumbling and mumbling in his dirty memoranda, but he gave no sign of recognition. There was a moment’s silence, then in a voice from which all the first bluffness was studiously excluded, Scannel said:

“Well, you’ve rung the bell on me. I’m a sucker. I know it. I’m one of the few hundred other Goddamned fools that you’ve managed to catch out shooting snipe. Now what I want to know is, how much is it going to cost me to get out of your corner? What’s the figure? What do you say?”

“I got a good deal to say,” remarked Jadwin, scowling again.