"You mean that she has been honest and they dishonest?"
"Yes," said Miss Burnett promptly and with a little smile, "my brother means that in order really to deceive people one has to act as we are acting now."
I laughed.
"But unfortunately now there is no one to deceive!"
She laughed too.
"But they might suddenly walk in!"
Tiel was not a frequent laugher, but he condescended to smile.
"Remember, Belke," he said, "I warned you on the first night we met that you must not only talk but think in English. If we don't do that constantly and continually when no one is watching us, how can we count on doing it constantly and continually when some one may be watching us?"
"Personally I should think it sufficient to wait till some one was watching," I said.
"There speaks Germany," smiled Tiel.