"Stop!" cried the bashaw; "you say that the pain kept you awake, and then you say you were going to sleep. You couldn't be awake and asleep at the same time."
A hum of applause ran round the court at this sagacious remark.
"He speaks the words of wisdom," murmured some.
"What a lawyer he is," whispered others.
"I had been awake for some hours," explained Bosja, "when the pain lulled a little, and I began to doze."
"Well, you began to doze, and then?"
"Then I was disturbed by a dreadful squeaking noise in the next room."
"A rat?"
"No, your highness; a flute."
"That was my flute, your worship," cried the indignant orphan; "whose dulcet tone he calls a dreadful sque——"