Narva paused. 'Professore?'
'I said—it won't do.'
'One moment, Salvatore.' Narva lowered the receiver to his chest. 'What will not do, professore?'
'Foreigners.'
Narva looked at him quizzically. 'You are not foreigners?'
Audley considered him in silence for five seconds. 'We are all foreigners somewhere. Here, in this house—in this country, I am a foreigner, certainly.'
Narva matched the five seconds before replying. 'Go on.'
'Do I need to?'
'No . . . not if I take your meaning accurately,' Narva spoke slowly. 'In England I am the foreigner, eh?'
'We are all foreigners somewhere, as I said.'
'But I am a bad man to threaten anywhere.'
dummy2
'But I am not threatening you—I am asking you for help . . .
just as you may need help in Britain.' Audley smiled. 'You had better get used to calling it 'Britain,' signore—to call it
'England' only offends the Scots and the Welsh and the Irish.
If you want to, make your fortune out of us then you must get used to our little ways. And there has to be a measure of mutual trust.'
Narva replaced the receiver.
'You are trusted in your business transactions, Signor Narva,' continued Audley more gently. 'Your word is always enough, I have been told. . . . And tonight you are keeping faith with a dead man.'
Narva inclined his head fractionally. 'You honour me, professore.'
'No. Trust is part of your stock-in-trade.'
The Italian's face hardened. 'But not, I would think, any part of yours.'
'You'd be surprised how many people trust me,' said Audley evenly. 'And not with money, either.'
Boselli examined each face in turn, fascinated. So the threat to telephone Rome, though real enough, had been also calculated to draw the Englishman. And the Englishman, in accepting this, was nevertheless taking the initiative.
'I was generalising, naturally, professore.'
'Naturally. Because we both know that trust brings in information. ... In fact it was trust that brought you Richard dummy2
von Hotzendorff.'
'You think so?'
'I'm certain of it.'
'I think you would find that difficult to prove.'
'I'm certain of that, too. But proving it is really not important.'
'Because I will break whatever confidence—whatever business confidence—I had with Herr Hotzendorff of my own free will?'
'I wouldn't put it quite like that.'
'Indeed? Then I would be most interested to know how you would put it.'
Audley considered the question for a moment. 'Well ... I suppose I would say that unforeseen circumstances might cause you to break the letter of your agreement in order to adhere to its spirit.'
'My agreement?' Narva echoed the word with obstinate indifference.
'Hotzendorff sold you information about the discovery of oil in the North Sea, Signor Narva. Are you denying that?'
Narva shook his head. 'I am neither denying it nor admitting it, professore. Neither do I deny or admit this agreement of yours—the words are all yours so far.'
'Not quite all. You have admitted meeting him.'
'I meet a great many people in the way of business. But I do dummy2
not make agreements with them all.'
They were back to square one, thought Boselli; the Englishman seemed to be losing the initiative.
'Nevertheless, there was an agreement,' said Audley patiently. 'And it didn't simply concern money.'
It was a statement, not a question, and this time Narva did not reply to it. So the initiative hadn't been lost after all—
'Hotzendorff had a family in East Germany, Signor Narva,'
