“Oh! indeed. In what way?”
“In many ways. His eyes are like the man I saw, but since the night of the murder he has grown a beard.”
“Be careful, sir,” cried Slapperton. “He has grown a beard since the night of the murder? You don’t happen to know that he is not the man at all?”
“No, I do not happen to know that,” returned Henry Adolphus. “My impression is that he is the man I saw.”
“Why, just now you said you could not say whether he was or not. Do you know that you are contradicting yourself—perjuring yourself, in fact?” said the lawyer, turning triumphantly towards the bench.
“I think you are in error, Mr. Slapperton,” said Lord Ethalwood. “The witness says he was, and still is, under the impression that the prisoner was the man. He has never said positively that he was. I think you will find that he has not contradicted himself.”
“I bow to your decision, my lord,” observed the lawyer. “It is quite clear that your servant is unable to identify the prisoner.”
“Identification under the circumstances described must necessarily be difficult.”
Mr. Slapperton bowed, and the witness left the box.
Ellen Fulford was then called.