Mr. Chesterton: We are quoting from something that is admitted as evidence. Every statement made here must be taken as being true.
Witness: But that was a blind.
Mr. Chesterton: I want to carry you further, Miss Landless—“with a general impression on his mind that Mrs. Tope’s was somewhere very near it.” Is that the general impression on your mind?
Witness: I knew exactly where to go to Mrs. Tope’s.
Mr. Chesterton: And this “general impression on your mind” goes on—“and that, like the children in the game of hot boiled beans and very good butter, he was warm in his search when he saw the tower, and cold when he didn’t see it.” Is not that a definite statement as to the condition of your mind, and not as to your external actions, and does it not assert that you did not know where Tope’s lodgings were?
Witness: I take it as a blind.
Judge: I draw the attention of the Court to the fact that the conditions of anybody’s frame of mind have been paid perhaps too little attention to, and if Miss Landless chooses to say that the original literary person from whom I believe we procured most of this information was not quite accurate, one can only say she has probably gone outside the rules.
Mr. Chesterton: My Lord, I would direct your attention to the third paragraph of the “Conditions.”
Judge (after perusing the paragraph referred to): Yes, I see: that is, on the face of it, it is quite clear that a statement does appear to be made to that effect. The rest falls into the deplorable abyss of literature.
Mr. Chesterton (to witness): Now, after you had been “boggling about” in search of a place which you knew perfectly well already, you met a small boy, I think?