"Now, some of _my_ dodges," he said with a sudden change of voice,
turning towards Lewisham, his eyes smiling over his glasses and an
emphatic hand patting the table-cloth; "some of _my_ dodges are
_damned_ ingenious, you know--_damned_ ingenious--and well worth
double the money they bring me--double."
He turned towards the fire again, pulling at his smouldering pipe, and
eyeing Lewisham over the corner of his glasses.
"One or two of my little things would make Maskelyne sit up," he said
presently. "They would set that mechanical orchestra playing out of
pure astonishment. I really must explain some of them to you--now we
have intermarried."
It took Mr. Lewisham a minute or so to re-form the regiment of his
mind, disordered by its headlong pursuit of Chaffery's flying
arguments. "But on your principles you might do almost anything!" he
said.
"Precisely!" said Chaffery.
"But--"
"It is rather a curious method," protested Chaffery; "to test one's
principles of action by judging the resultant actions on some other
principle, isn't it?"
Lewisham took a moment to think. "I suppose that is so," he said, in
the manner of a man convinced against his will.
He perceived his logic insufficient. He suddenly thrust the delicacies
of argument aside.
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