"Should we gain anything by that? If a prisoner be innocent why torment him by delay. He is tolerably sure of escape. If he be guilty, extension of time only brings out the facts the clearer. As far as my experience goes, the sooner a man is tried the better,—always."
"And you would consent to hold a brief?"
"Under you? Well; yes. I don't mind it at Alston. Anything to oblige an old friend. I never was proud, you know."
"And what do you think about it, Chaffanbrass?"
"Ah! that's the question."
"She must be pulled through. Twenty years of possession! Think of that."
"That's what Mason, the man down in Yorkshire, is thinking of. There's no doubt of course about that partnership deed?"
"I fear not. Round would not go on with it if that were not all true."
"It depends on those two witnesses, Furnival. I remember the case of old, though it was twenty years ago, and I had nothing to do with it. I remember thinking that Lady Mason was a very clever woman, and that Round and Crook were rather slow."
"He's a brute; is that fellow, Mason of Groby Park."