"Yes, sir."
"Tell us the circumstances under which you arrested the prisoner."
"The Commissioner—the Commissioner—" McCarthy began, faltered, suddenly stopped.
"Yes, the Commissioner."
But McCarthy seemed struck by sudden panic.
"Yes, yes!" the district attorney became irritable. "The Commissioner—" He rapped the table.
Donegan rose.
"McCarthy," he explained gently, "has had no one to talk to for seven years but my client. He finds it hard to get his words right. Take your time, McCarthy," he told the witness. "Close your eyes. Say it as if you were saying it to yourself."
The prisoner threw him a look of gratitude.
"I was on the vice squad under Inspector O'Gara." The witness found words at last. "One morning the Commissioner sends for me. It was when the trouble was on about the graft in the Raines-law hotels. The Commissioner looks at me kind of hard.