Roberts: ‘I shouldn’t care if it were as black as the ace of spades.’
Willis: ‘Roberts, I honour you! It isn’t everybody who could steal an old gentleman’s watch, and then be so ready to lie out of it. Well, you have got courage—both kinds—moral and physical.’
Roberts: ‘Thank you, Willis. Of course I don’t pretend that I should be willing to lie under ordinary circumstances; but for the sake of Agnes and the children—I don’t want any awkwardness about the matter; it would be the death of me. Well, what do you wish me to say? Be quick; I don’t believe I could hold out for a great while. I don’t suppose but what Mr. Bemis would be reasonable, even if I—’
Willis: ‘I’m afraid we couldn’t trust him. The only way is for you to take the bull by the horns.’
Roberts: ‘Yes?’
Willis: ‘You will not only have to lie, Roberts, but you will have to wear an air of innocent candour at the same time.’
Roberts: ‘I—I’m afraid I couldn’t manage that. What is your idea?’
Willis: ‘Oh, just come into the room with a laugh when we go back, and say, in an offhand way, “By the way, Agnes, Willis and I made a remarkable discovery in my dressing-room; we found my watch there on the bureau. Ha, ha, ha!” Do you think you could do it?’
Roberts: ‘I—I don’t know.’
Willis: ‘Try the laugh now.’