"Well, now, will you tell us whether you removed those books from the office of IH. S. Ives & Co. or not?"
"Do you ask me to answer that question personally?"
"Yes."
"Do you wish a verbal answer or would you rather have it in writing?"
"Answer orally."
"Well, then, I did not, to my knowledge."
"Would you have been apt to know of it if you had taken them away yourself?"
"Well, only in a general way."
"Would you have known about it if any one else had taken them away?"
"I think I would but I might not. There was a great deal of passing along our street, and they may have been taken while I was looking out of the window, waiting till the crowds rolled by."