“There was no one.”
A lie! All knew it, all felt it. The man was perjuring himself, under his own counsel’s persistent questioning on a point which that counsel had evidently been warned by him to avoid. I was assured of this by the way Moffat failed to meet Arthur’s eye, as he pressed on hastily, and in a way to forestall all opposition.
“There are two ways of leaving your house for the city. Which way did you take?”
“The shortest. I went through my neighbour’s grounds to Huested Street.”
“Immediately?”
“As soon as I could. I don’t know what you mean by immediately.”
“Didn’t you stop at the stable?”
A pause, during which more than one person present sat breathless. These questions were what might be expected from Mr. Fox in cross-examination. They seemed totally unsuited to a direct examination at the hands of his own counsel. What did such an innovation mean?
“Yes, I stopped at the stable.”
“What to do?”