"Which direction are you going to take?" he said to the Juror.
"Why do you want to know?" asked the man.
"Because I will take the other, and I've a hundred things to attend to."
"Who's hindering you?"
"You, Mr. Rawdon. That's your name, I believe."
"I'm not ashamed of it," said Mr. Rawdon, with a slight start.
"Why should you be?" remarked Lambert quietly. "It's the name you were born to. I'm not ashamed of mine; to tell you the truth, I'm rather proud of it. What we've got to do with our names, whether we like 'em or not, is to make 'em a credit to ourselves and our families. And we're born, not only to names that stick to us, but to tempers that stick to us. Now, when I see a man showing a nasty temper, I cast about in my mind for something that will soothe his ruffled feelings. That's what I've been thinking about. 'What can I do,' says I to myself, 'that will soothe Mr. Rawdon's ruffled feelings?' And it's come over me to put it in the shape of a question, if you've no objection."
"Let's hear what it is," said Mr. Rawdon, upon whom the detective's words did not seem to have a soothing effect.
"'It's a question," continued Lambert, "that I wouldn't put to you publicly if it wasn't that we're playing a sort of game, you and me, a sort of trying to tire one another out, because, you know, Mr. Rawdon, there's many a thing in a man's life he'd prefer to keep to himself. As for tiring me out, you couldn't do it, Mr. Rawdon. It's well known that Detective Lambert is the most patient man in the whole police force, and it's well known, too, that he never mixes himself up with other people's private affairs unless he has the best of reasons for it."
"Aren't you losing sight of your question?" asked Mr. Rawdon sullenly.