“What is it, pray!”
“The old rule:—Never believe your adversary. Never tell the truth—except when the truth will deceive more effectively than a lie.”
“That is entirely regular, yet not applicable to the present matter. I’m not your adversary.”
“You say you’re not—yet how does that avoid the rule?”
“Won’t you take my word, Guy?” she murmured.
“I am at a loss whether to take it or not,” he reflected; “being so, I’m in a state of equipoise until I’m shown.”
“Tell me how I can show you?” she smiled.
“I haven’t the remotest idea. You know as well as I that if you were to tell me truthfully why you are here, and what you aim to accomplish, I couldn’t accept your story; I should have to substantiate it by other means.”
“You mean that I can’t show you?” she said sorrowfully.
He nodded. “No more than I could show you were our positions reversed.”