“Quite so. When was this?”
“About five weeks ago.”
“And what did you do then?”
“Why, we went to Mr Forsyth and asked his advice, and he said we’d better make sure of our fax, and then we must make a—a—a—aspersion.”
“A what?”
“No, sir, that wasn’t it—it was a disposition.”
“Oh! A deposition?”
“Yes, sir, and we made it. And the next thing we heard was that Squire Dorrien was in gaol.”
“Where I trust those who richly deserve it will soon be in his place,” rejoined Mr Windgate significantly. “And I hope I shall be instrumental in bringing about this pleasant little change. And now, do we understand you to say you would have kept silence about this if Johnston had not known it too?”
“Well, sir, yes. It warn’t no business of mine.”