That's the way we have
got to work it. You must make the start.'
ROBERTS: 'Couldn't you make it better, Willis? It's your idea.'
WILLIS: 'No; they'd be sure to suspect me, and they can't suspect
you of anything--you're so innocent. The illusion will be
complete.'
ROBERTS, very doubtfully: 'Do you think so?'
WILLIS: 'Yes. Hurry up. Let me unbutton that collar for you.'
PART THIRD
SCENE I: MRS. ROBERTS, DR. LAWTON, MRS. CRASHAW, MR. BEMIS, YOUNG
MR. AND MRS. BEMIS
MRS. ROBERTS, surrounded by her guests, and confronting from her
sofa Mr. Bemis, who still remains sunken in his armchair, has
apparently closed an exhaustive recital of the events which have
ended in his presence there. She looks round with a mixed air of
self-denial and self-satisfaction to read the admiration of her
listeners in their sympathetic countenances.
DR. LAWTON, with an ironical sigh of profound impression: 'Well,
Mrs. Roberts, you are certainly the most lavishly hospitable of
hostesses. Every one knows what delightful dinners you give; but
these little dramatic episodes which you offer your guests, by way
of appetizer, are certainly unique. Last year an elevator stuck in
the shaft with half the company in it, and this year a highway
robbery, its daring punishment and its reckless repetition--what the
newspapers will call "A Triple Mystery" when it gets to them--and
both victims among our commensals! Really, I don't know what more
we could ask of you, unless it were the foot-padded footpad himself
as a commensal.
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