“Nathaniel Daniel, or Daniel Nathaniel?”
“No, my Lord, only Nathaniel; not Daniel at all.”
“What did you tell me it was Daniel for, then, sir?” inquired the judge.
“I didn’t, my Lord,” replied Mr. Winkle.
“You did, sir,” replied the judge, with a severe frown. “How could I have got Daniel on my notes, unless you told me so, sir?”
This argument was, of course, unanswerable.
“Mr. Winkle has rather a short memory, my Lord,” interposed Mr. Skimpin, with another glance at the jury. “We shall find means to refresh it before we have quite done with him, I dare say.”
“You had better be careful, sir,” said the little judge, with a sinister look at the witness.
Poor Mr. Winkle bowed, and endeavoured to feign an easiness of manner which, in his then state of confusion, gave him rather the air of a disconcerted pickpocket.