“But is it not unwise to tamper with firearms when you are not acquainted with their mechanism?”
Raeburn coloured a trifle and remarked, “That’s hardly applicable to me, Mr. Cardomay.”
“I was merely enlarging a metaphor you introduced.”
“Ah—I see. Yes. But how about a drink before we start? You won’t refuse a whisky, eh?”
“You may find it hard to believe, but I shall refuse; for oddly enough, and at the risk of destroying one of your illusions, I do not drink alcohol.”
“Ha! Well, that’s a score to you.”
“I wish I could shatter other beliefs as easily. You said we of the stage have no real experience of life, death and danger, and could not cope with it if we had.”
“I did.”
“I, on the other hand, maintain that we have a greater experience than almost any other class. We must know what to do for every occasion, for otherwise we would need at once to seek a fresh means of livelihood—or starve. We live amidst a turmoil of ever-changing emotions——”
“Acted emotions!”