She thought at first, as he showed her to a chair, that he was going to take his usual damnable tack of pretended ignorance in order to see how much she would confess.

However, tonight this was not his plan of battle.
The moment she was seated, he removed his spectacles, drew a chair close to hers and sat down, leaning far forward.

"Now, my dear, foolish girl," said the master thief, smiling benevolently upon her, "what have you been doing tonight to make us all miserable ?" She knew at once that he was aware of every move she had made, from the first to the last.

It gave her firmness to tell the lie with suavity.
"It's a queer yarn, John," she said.
"I'm used to queer yarns," he answered.

"But where have you been all this time?
It was only to take five minutes, I thought." She made herself laugh.