"I didn't suspect you any more, sir."
Carlton tried hard to suppress his satisfaction, as a sensation to which he was no longer entitled. He had come back to this in the night; but it was harder to abide by it during the day. He paused a little, in honest effort to rid his mind and tone of any taint of triumph; but his advantage had to be pursued.
"May I ask when this suspicion perished?"
"Before we had been five minutes together, trying to save the church!"
"You are getting upon dangerous ground," said the chairman. "What the witness thought, or when he ceased to think it, is not evidence."
"Another point, then," said Carlton: "do you remember the appearance of the lamps?"
"Yes."
"What was it?"
"They were crooked."
"Did you notice any paraffin spilt about?"