12 A. V. Laider by Max Beerbohm

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/761/pg761.html

The narrator and Laider met in a hostel when they were recovering from influenza a year ago. At that time, the narrator and Laider discussed about palmistry. Soon Laider told a story about his mastery of palmistry and found himself going to escape a violent death when he was about 26. Then he met some people in a carriage when he was 27. He looked at their hands and found that 3 of them were supposed to or going to have a violent death. They all have the same sign in their palms. Then he had an accident and he forgot what happened. His uncle came and he remembered what had happened. The narrator wrote Laider a letter, but when he returned to the hostel a year later, again after an influenza, he found that the letter was still there. Then he left and got back to get the letter, the letter was gone. He realized that Laider had come back again as well. He found Laider and Laider told him that it was all a lie. He has such great imagination that he has to tell him a story. He said that he was sorry. The narrator actually sensed something weird in Laider's story, but he learned the truth. Laider lied all along. No one knows if Laider lied that he lied either. Everything is a lie. Then they decided to go back to the time before they talked about the palmistry. They bowed to each other, but they started to talk again. Soon, Laider began another story.