"Come and have a cigar. Ah, there's Sir John! How are you, Chief Justice? Looks a bit shaky, doesn't he? Come along, Coxon."
So saying, Kilshaw led the way to the smoking-room, and, when the pair were comfortably settled, he recurred to his topic.
"I remember her asking me—in confidence of course, and, all the same, perhaps not very discreetly—what in the world made you go over, and what made you stay over."
"And you said——?"
"I didn't know what to say. I never did understand, and I understand less than ever now."
"Haven't I explained in the House?"
"Oh, in the House! I tell you what it is, Coxon,
—and you must stop me if you don't like to hear it—I shall always consider Medland got your support on false pretences."
Coxon did not stop him. He sat and bit his finger-nail while Kilshaw pointed out the discrepancies between what Medland had foreshadowed and what he was doing. He did not consciously exaggerate, but he made as good a case as he could; and he talked to an ear inclined to listen.
"He caught you and Puttock on false pretences—utterly false pretences," Kilshaw ended. "Puttock saw it pretty soon."