‘Ay, and questioned him, moreover?’
‘I have asked him many questions.’
‘Instance?’
‘Why, who and what he was himself for one.’
‘And his answer?’
‘That he was thy confidant and right-hand man—in his sort a paragon; which was to say the best of his kind.’
A smile, like a tiny spasm, twitched the moody features.
‘Well, there’s no degree in him like best, since he’s himself alone. What next?’
‘He said you were no more a Judge, and I asked him why, and he answered you had resigned your Commission.’
He saw the eyes, as he spoke, blaze into an instant fire.