"Do you think that he knows anything about this ?" Tarling shook his head.
"I believe the story he told me.

Of course, when I made the report to Scotland Yard I did not expect that you people would be as credulous as I am, but I know the man.

He has never lied to me." "Murder is a pretty serious business," said Whiteside.

"If a man didn't lie to save his neck, he wouldn't lie at all." There was the sound of a motor below, and Tarling walked to the window.
"Here is Ling Chu," he said, and a few minutes later the Chinaman came noiselessly into the room.
Tarling greeted him with a curt nod, and without any preliminary told the story of the crime.

He spoke in English--he had not employed Chinese since he discovered that Ling Chu understood English quite as well as he understood Cantonese, and Whiteside was able from time to time to interject a word, or correct some little slip on Tarling's part.