Witness: I do not ask you to believe anything of the kind, for I should not have been so foolish. I could have written some words if I had wished to, but I would not write at all.
Mr. Chesterton: You used the old tavern way of keeping scores. Where did you learn that?
Witness: In Ceylon.
Mr. Chesterton: What is the Cingalese tavern way?
Witness: I have not been brought up in a drawing-room, but among a very rough set of people. My step-father was a low, common man, and frequented taverns, and we children could go inside and outside or anywhere.
Mr. Chesterton: Are there taverns in Ceylon?
Witness: I don’t know that they call them taverns.
Mr. Chesterton: Do you suggest that the phrase “old tavern way of keeping scores” refers to Ceylon?
Witness: My chalk marks revert to the time when I was there.
Mr. Chesterton: How did you keep scores in Ceylon?