_Mr. S._ Pray, silence; oh, pray, pray, silence. You shock me inexpressibly. It is most painful to me to have to resort to your assistance. My son, my dear son, has engaged himself to marry Mrs. Van Brugh’s daughter. I have lately had reason to believe that there is something discreditable in Mrs. Van Brugh’s marriage relations, though I do not know its precise nature. You tell me that you have a certain clew to this flaw, though you decline to tell me what it is until your proofs are matured. Well, sir, the Smaileys are a very old and very famous family. Caius Smaileius came over with Julius Cæsar; his descendants have borne an untarnished scutcheon for eighteen hundred years. In its interest I am bound to employ you, and upon your own most exacting terms, though I can not think of your contemptible calling without a feeling of the most profound abhorrence.
_Fitz._ Sir, I am heartily ashamed of it.
_Mr. S._ You are a professional impostor; a hired lie.
_Fitz._ It is too true. I not only lie myself, but I am the cause of lying in others.
_Mr. S._ For the lies that have to be told in accounting for you I hold you entirely responsible. I wish that to be understood. I wash my hands of them altogether, and, when I think of the deep, deliberate, and utterly indefensible falsehoods that I have had to utter on your behalf, I tremble for your future--I tremble for your future.
_Mr. S._ As for the preposterous terms you have dictated----
_Fitz._ Terms! I have insured to myself the unbroken enjoyment of your desirable society for six weeks, and believe me, when I say that if I had been acquainted with the inexpressible charms of the most fascinating woman that ever shed a light upon the private detective’s thorny path, I wouldn’t have undertaken the job, no, not even for a lifetime of your society!
_Mrs. V. B._ Good morning, Mr. Smailey. I am sorry to have kept you waiting. (_Aside_) That absurd little man with him again. (_Aloud_) Good morning, Mr.----
_Fitz._ (_aside_). She might remember _my_ name. I can’t conceive any circumstances under which I could forget _hers_!
_Mr. S._ Mr. Fitz Partington is entirely in my confidence. I brought him, because I believed that his familiarity with legal forms might assist us in our interview. You can speak without reserve before Mr. Fitz Partington. (_Aside to FITZ._) A lie, sir! Another lie, from first to last!