"I don't deny it," said Sir Wilton, stoutly.
"And do you know of any builder or stonemason in the neighbourhood with whom you have not discussed me?"
"Can't say I do."
"That's quite enough," said Carlton. "I shall not ask you what you said. I do not purpose calling these men, at this court; time enough for that at the assizes." And without further comment he took the witness through one or two details of their last interview in the ruins; by no means all; indeed, the date was the point most insisted upon.
"And so the very next day was last Friday, the 18th of August?" concluded Carlton with apparent levity.
The witness refused to answer, appealed to the bench, and secured another reprimand for the accused.
"I harp upon that date," said Carlton, "because, as I have already remarked, it seems to have been a fatal date for me. It has arisen so many times in the course of this case! This, however, is not the precise moment for enumerating those occasions; let us first finish with each other. Did you, Sir Wilton Gleed, on the eighteenth day of this present month, have separate or collective conversation with the witnesses Busby, Fuller, and Ivey?"
"Yes, I did," said Gleed, hot, white, and glaring.
"Separate or collective? Did you speak to them one at a time or all together?"
"Both, if you like!" cried the witness, wildly. "I can't remember. Better say both!"