It sounds like the badge of some secret society, and not even the most ardent romanticist would suspect our friend Starling here of belonging to anything of the sort." Starling had resumed his luncheon, and was making a great effort at a show of indifference.

Nevertheless, he watched Arnold uneasily.
"Say, there's no sense in talking like this!" he muttered.

"Mr.
Chetwode here will think you're in earnest." "There is, on the contrary, a very great deal of sound common sense," Sabatini asserted, gently, "in all that I have said.

I want our young friend, Mr.Chetwode, to be a valued witness for the defense when the misguided gentlemen from Scotland Yard choose to lay a hand upon your shoulder.

One should always be prepared, my friend, for possibilities.