"Under reasonable orders, perhaps," admitted Vernon, quietly, with a little tightening of the muscles of the face. "I don't admit that either you or Blake is infallible. What is it you propose to do?"
"We propose, in the first place, to send Markeld this note."
Vernon took it and read it at a glance.
"A note which is, of course, a lie," he observed, dispassionately, as he handed it back.
"It is not a lie!" retorted Collins, flushing hotly. "It is, on the contrary, the absolute truth."
"There are many ways of lying," remarked Vernon, still more coolly. "It isn't so much the letter as the spirit which constitutes a lie."
"This is scarcely the time," put in Blake, "for a lecture upon ethics."
"And it would, in any event," added Vernon, "be entirely wasted upon the present audience. Well, what next?"
"I think you understand your part," answered Collins, curtly. "The only question is, are you prepared to play it?"
Vernon hesitated for an instant, his hands trembling slightly.