“Oh no. For part of the time one man was here; for others, two; and at times perhaps a dozen.” “Where are they?” “I have no more idea than you. There were two of them when you and your men arrived. I was then left alone.” “But the house was surrounded. They couldn’t escape.” “I was brought straight to this room and have not been allowed to leave it for a moment.” “‘Allowed’?” he repeated quickly, catching at the word. “That is just what I mean. Otherwise, I certainly should not have remained.” “Who were the men?” I smiled and shrugged my shoulders. “I would tell you if I could.” This was a deliberate equivocation, but it saved me from a direct lie. I meant that I could not because of my pledge, but I meant him to infer that I did not know. He paused and I added: “And now I shall be glad to know what you propose to do with me?” “What do you suppose we generally do with prisoners? Billet them at the Avenida Palace Hotel? You’ll be locked up for the rest of the night, of course, while we make inquiries about you.” “I am an Englishman--as I have told you.” “What of that? What’s good enough for a Portuguese is good enough for an Englishman, I suppose.” “I am also a friend of M. Volheno.” “So you say. But do you expect me to rouse him in the middle of the night whenever a revolutionary rascal chooses to say he is a friend?” “I can give you the names of several other influential men who know me. The Marquis de Pinsara, Visconte de Linto,” and I rattled off a number of the men to whom I had been introduced on the night of the reception. “You can communicate with them in the morning and call them as witnesses,” he sneered. He had the sardonic habit strongly developed. “But I haven’t done questioning you yet.” “I shall not answer any more questions. You don’t believe what I tell you. My object was to avoid the unpleasantness of being thrust into one of your filthy gaols; and that has evidently failed.” “You will tell me where the men are hidden who were here with you,” he said very threateningly. “I repeat, I know no more than you do. You were already in the house when they left this room.” “That won’t do for me,” he answered bluntly. He motioned to the two men who pulled my hands behind my back and slipped a pair of handcuffs on my wrists, while he himself sat down at the desk and made a list of the things the men had taken from me. “Is this all?” he asked the fellow who had searched me. “All but a cigarette case.” “Anything in it?” “Nothing but cigarettes. I made sure of that.” “All right.” I breathed more freely. “Now, prisoner, show me the secret hiding-place in this room.” “There is none. The men left the room.” He came close up and glared so fiercely into my face that I thought he was going to strike me. He was the sort of brute to enjoy hitting a defenceless man. “If you lie to me, I’ll----” he ground his teeth and left me to finish the sentence out of my own fears.