There was no mistaking her meaning. Paul put the slip back on the mantelpiece.
"Don't you think," said he, speaking with equal intention, "that it's as well even the devil should be allowed to state a case at times?"
"Perhaps—I don't know," Althea faltered in reply.
"Excuse me if I bore you. I don't ask often. Is there any news of my luckless story?"
"Some one is reading it."
"Some publisher?"
"Not exactly. I—I wanted an opinion from some one who—from some one——"
"Some one quite impartial, you mean?"
"Not quite that, either. From some one who is able to take a very special point of view."
Ingram laughed grimly. "Why don't you get some of your worldly friends to teach you how to lie?"