“I’m not sure; after, I think. Yes, it was after; for I remember that I had a deuce of a time unbuttoning my coat to get at my trousers’ pocket.”
“You dropped this key into your trousers’ pocket?”
“I did.”
“Mr. Cumberland, let me ask you to fix your memory on the moments you spent in the hall. Did you put on your hat before you pocketed the key, or afterwards?”
“My hat? How can I tell? My mind wasn’t on my hat. I don’t know when I put it on.”
“You absolutely do not remember?”
“No.”
“Nor where you took it from?”
“No.”
“Whether you saw the keys first, and then went for your hat; or having pocketed the key, waited—”