Witness: Yes, but they had a little misunderstanding.

Mr. Walters: Misunderstanding?

Witness: Only a difference of opinion.

Mr. Walters: Did you think it would lead your brother to make an attack on him?

Witness: The idea is preposterous.

Mr. Walters: They had a quarrel at the outset?

Witness: My brother did not like the way in which Edwin Drood spoke of Rosa Bud. He thought he was too patronising. John Jasper came up, made a great deal more of it than it warranted, and then insisted on the young men going back with him to have a glass of wine—stirrup-cup, he called it.

Mr. Walters: What was the effect on your brother?

Witness: Both became flushed and excited.

Mr. Walters: Was it very usual with your brother?