"I object, Your Honor, on the ground of irrelevancy."
The judge said to O'Bannon, "What is the purpose of the question?"
"Credibility, Your Honor. I wish to show that the defendant is not a competent witness as to her own speed."
The judge locked his fingers together, with his elbows on the arms of his chair, and took a ruminative half spin.
"The fact that she was once stopped by the police will not determine that. She might have been violating some other ordinance."
"I will show, if Your Honor permits it, that it was for speeding that she was stopped."
Eventually the question was admitted; and Lydia, testifying more and more reluctantly, more and more aware that the impression she was making was bad, was forced to testify that in the autumn Drummond himself had stopped her. Asked what he had said to her, she answered scornfully that she didn't remember.
"Did he say: 'What do you think this is—a race track?'"
"I don't remember."
"Did he warn you that if you continued to drive so fast he would arrest you?"