"
"Then you can find another opportunity," I answered stiffly. "Mr. Guest's
friends would receive every consideration from me. His enemies, I must
admit, I cannot, under the circumstances, see the back of too quickly."
Mr. Stanley had no alternative but to depart, which he did with as good a
grace as possible. I was glad to be alone for a few minutes. My ordinary
share of the vices of life, both great and small, I was, without a doubt,
possessed of. But I had never been a liar. I had never looked a man in
the face and made statements which I had known at the time were
absolutely and entirely false. This was my first essay in a new role.
My next visitor was a very different sort of person, a fair, florid
little man, with easy, courteous manners, and dressed in deep mourning.
He introduced himself as Mr. Raynes, of Raynes and Bishop, Solicitors,
Lincoln's Inn, and alluded to the telegram which I had sent him earlier
in the morning.
"May I inquire," he asked, after we had exchanged a few commonplaces, "if
you are aware that Mr.
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