I don't say it was all your fault. You no more knew that she was
there than I did. But you told me a deliberate lie about her
people, and that I never shall forgive."
I spoke as vehemently as I could under my breath. The hansom was
waiting at the curb.
"I can say no more than I have said," returned Raffles with a shrug.
"Lie or no lie, I didn't tell it to bring you with me, but to get
you to give me certain information without feeling a beast about it.
But, as a matter of fact, it was no lie about old Hector Carruthers
and Lord Lochmaben, and anybody but you would have guessed the
truth."
"'What is the truth?"
"I as good as told you, Bunny, again and again."
"Then tell me now."
"If you read your paper there would be no need; but if you want to
know, old Carruthers headed the list of the Birthday Honors, and
Lord Lochmaben is the title of his choice."
And this miserable quibble was not a lie! My lip curled, I turned
my back without a word, and drove home to my Mount Street flat in
a new fury of savage scorn. Not a lie, indeed! It was the one
that is half a truth, the meanest lie of all, and the very last to
which I could have dreamt that Raffles would stoop.
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