The House on the River by Fred M. White

Claw resigned himself to the inevitable. It needed a man with far more courage than his to rise to a situation like that and emerge from it victoriously. He had been going to betray his confederate and the other had turned the tables on him. Moreover, Enderby knew that Claw had those valuable securities in his pocket, and he told himself grimly enough that when the time came he was going to share in the proceeds.

"Now, look here," he said. "It's no use you and me quarrelling. That means that we shall both be in the soup together and Geere will get his own back again. Oh, you needn't put your hand in your breast pocket. I know exactly what's in there. Now suppose we talk the matter over. We shall gain nothing by squabbling. You may depend upon it that we have been watched. There is some force moving behind Quint and Somerset and Kent that we know nothing about, and we can do nothing till we find it out. I propose that we go down to the house on the river and see Geere as arranged. We can get anything we like out of a simple old fool like that. And what's more to the point we shall be able to ascertain whether Barr has seen his relative or not. I suppose you can see how vital that is to us?"