The sudden light had a common effect upon all of them. Suzanne for a moment held her hand in front of her eyes. Niko blinked slightly. Then he drew himself up to his full height of five feet four. He stood in front of the safe with his eyes fixed upon Lavendale, something about his face and attitude bearing a curious resemblance to a statue carved in wax. Lavendale coughed. 'You remind me, Baron Komashi,' he said, 'of an old English proverb--the pitcher that goes once too often to the well, you know. Was it something you had forgotten that brought you back? No, stay where you are, please.' Niko remained motionless. Lavendale moved to a long, open cupboard which stood against the wall, opened it and groped about amongst its contents for a moment. Then he swung the door to and slipped some cartridges into the little revolver which he had taken from the top shelf. Niko's muscles suddenly seemed to relax. Ever so slightly he shrugged his shoulders. It was the gesture of a supreme philosophy. 'There's no need for a row,' Lavendale went on. 'The game you and I are playing at, Baron Komashi, requires finesse rather than muscle. By a stroke of genius you have read a certain document in that safe. That document is naturally of interest to the representative of the one country with whom America might possibly quarrel.' Niko bowed his sleek head. 'I have read the document,' he confessed. 'It was my business here to read it. And now?' 'There you have me,' Lavendale admitted. 'It is a document, without a doubt, of great interest to you, and your Government will highly appreciate a résumé of its contents. At the same time, the only way to stop your making use of your information is to kill you.' The man's face was like the face of a sphinx. Suzanne leaned a little further back in her chair and crossed her legs. 'It is a fortunate century in which you pursue your career, Baron,' she observed, 'and perhaps a fortunate country. These little qualms about human life which I can clearly see are influencing Mr. Lavendale, scarcely exist, even now, amongst your people, do they?' 'We are as yet,' Niko replied suavely, 'free, I am thankful to say, from the cowardice of the west.' 'If I asked you for your word of honour,' Lavendale continued, 'that you would not use that information? 'I might give it you,' Niko acknowledged, 'but my country's service is a higher thing than my personal honour, therefore it would do you no good. I shall be frank with you. There is no way you can prevent my report being duly made except by killing me. I am here, a self-confessed robber. If I were in your place, I should shoot.' 'The cowardice of the west, you see,' Lavendale remarked, throwing his revolver upon the table. 'You had better get out of the room. I might change my mind.' For a moment Niko made no movement. Suzanne rose to her feet and lit a cigarette. 'As a matter of curiosity,' she asked, 'tell us why you returned, Baron?' He bowed.