"We will let that pass for the moment," he said. He consulted a blank sheet of paper and then looked sternly at Mr. Jobson. "Mr. Jobson, how many times have you been married?"
"Once."
"Quite so." He hesitated and then decided to risk it. "I suggest that your wife left you?"
"Yes."
It was a long shot, but once again the bold course had paid. Rupert heaved a sigh of relief.
"Will you tell the gentlemen of the jury," he said with deadly politeness, "why she left you."
"She died."
A lesser man might have been embarrassed, but Rupert's iron nerve did not fail him.
"Exactly!" he said. "And was that or was that not on the night when you were turned out of the Hampstead Parliament for intoxication?"
"I never was."