A general smile passed over the court.
‘Seventeen seconds exactly, my lord,’ observed Tressamer. ‘The witness’s ten minutes may therefore be put down as three. You have told his lordship that the last set of footsteps you heard sounded heavy when they went downstairs. Will you swear that they did not sound equally heavy coming up?’
‘I didn’t notice.’
‘I didn’t ask you if you had noticed. Don’t try and shirk my question, please. Will you pledge your oath that they weren’t equally heavy coming upstairs?’
‘No, I won’t swear it.’
‘Have you any reason, except your dislike of the prisoner, for suggesting that those footsteps were hers?’
The judge interposed.
‘Really, Mr. Tressamer, you mustn’t put it like that. She says that she didn’t dislike the prisoner, and you must take her answer. I allow great latitude to counsel in your situation, but you must treat the witness fairly.’
‘As your lordship pleases.’
Tressamer sat down, rather glad to leave his question unanswered, as the effect thereby produced on the jury’s mind would be better than if the witness had had a chance of offering her grounds for suspicion.