"I took out my knife," replied Gilbert, "and with great difficulty steadied myself so that I could pass the blade under the door. There was nothing underneath, but the door refused to stir."
"What did you do then?"
"Came back to you directly, to ask you whether we ought to leave the country."
"You did not try at the other end?"
"In broad daylight? Mr. Stevens, what can you be thinking of?"
"The interests of the cause, my friend."
"Ah, well! I have the greatest respect for the interests of the cause, but I have also a slight disposition to attend to the interests of Gilbert Irvine."
"That is precisely your bane, my excellent Gilbert. And there are other defects in you beside."
"And pray, what excuse could you have devised to gain entrance?"
"Gilbert, I wonder at your marvellous incapacity for lying. Now it comes quite natural to me."