Bellward. He was racking his brains to think what he had done
with the box of cigarettes he had purchased at the Dionysus shop
on the afternoon of the day he had taken the leave train back to
France.
He remembered perfectly buying the cigarettes for the journey.
But he didn't have them on the journey; for the captain of the
leave boat had given him some cigars as Desmond had nothing to
smoke. And then with a flash he remembered. He had packed the
cigarettes in his kit--his kit which had gone over to France in
the hold of the leave boat? And to think that there was a 100,000
pound jewel in charge of the M.L.O. at a French port!
The idea tickled Desmond's sense of humor and he smiled.
"Come," cried Strangwise, "you've heard my terms. This jewel,
this Star of Poland, it is nothing to you or your Government. You
restore it to me and I won't even ask you for a safe conduct back
to Germany. I'll just slide out and it will be as if I had never
been to England at all. As for my organization, you, Desmond
Okewood, have blown it sky-high!"
He stretched out his hand to Desmond as though he expected the
other to produce the gem from his pocket. But Desmond rose to his
feet and struck the hand contemptuously on one side. The smile
had vanished from his face.
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