“How did you come to know him?”
“He was for a time chauffeur to Mrs. Ives.”
“Married, wasn’t he?”
“Married, yes.”
“Mrs. Platz was a chambermaid in Mrs. Ives’s employ?”
“Yes.”
“They left because Mrs. Platz quarrelled with you, did they not?”
“One moment, please.” The prosecutor lifted an imperious voice. “Are we to be presented with an account of all the back-stairs quarrels, past and present, indulged in by Mrs. Ives’s domestics? To the best of my belief, my distinguished adversary is entering a field, however profitable and entertaining it may prove, that I have left totally virgin. Does the court hold this proper for cross-examination?”
“The Court does not. The question is overruled.”
“I ask an exception, Your Honour. . . . Miss Cordier, when you were turning out the lights that night, did you go into all the downstairs rooms?”