With your kind leave, I mean to persevere for some time yet." I had not closed the drawer of the cabinet while we were talking, and I glanced carelessly, as I answered him, at the fragments of the broken vase.

By this time he had got his feelings under perfect command.

He, too, glanced at the fragments of the vase with an appearance of perfect indifference.

I remembered the look of suspicion and surprise that had escaped him on entering the room, and I thought his indifference a little overacted.
"_That_ doesn't look very encouraging," he said, with a smile, pointing to the shattered pieces of china in the drawer.
"Appearances are not always to be trusted," I replied.

"The wisest thing I can do in my present situation is to suspect everything, even down to a broken vase." I looked hard at him as I spoke.