"I was afraid they might be, Mr. Manders, though I have never seen one off the stage."
"Still," I pursued, with painfully sustained amusement, "you were ready to find A.J. Raffles being shadowed here at Lord's of all places in the world?"
"I was ready for anything, anywhere," said Miss Belsize, "after all I heard yesterday afternoon."
"You mean about poor Mr. Garland and his affairs?"
It was an ingenuously disingenuous suggestion; it brought my companion's eyes back to mine, with something of the scorn that I deserved.
"No, Mr. Manders, I meant after what we all heard between Mr. Levy and Mr. Raffles; and you knew very well what I meant," added Miss Belsize severely.
"But surely you didn't take all that seriously?" said I, without denying the just impeachment.
"How could I help it? The insinuation was serious enough, in all conscience!" exclaimed Camilla Belsize.
"That is," said I, since she was not to be wilfully misunderstood, "that poor old Raffles had something to do with this jewel robbery at Carlsbad?"
"If it was a robbery."