The popular young statesman stepped into the witness-box with a jaunty air, and a smile which suggested amusement; in fact, he seemed to regard the whole thing in the light of a very good joke.
"I want you, Sir Frederick," the Crown lawyer went on, "to tell us exactly what happened in regard to this magician business at Lady Barmouth's house the other night."
"Really, there is very little to tell you," Ormond smiled. "I regarded it as all part of the fun. I was sitting close to the table occupied by the prisoner and the mysterious magician; in fact, I regarded the whole thing as a pure piece of comedy got up between those gentlemen to amuse the guests."
"You had no notion of the magician's name, then?" the lawyer asked. "You were not taken into the secret?"
"Oh, dear no. It seemed to me to be a very clever piece of acting. I must confess I was just a little impressed when the crystal was placed in the box, after being firmly held by the prisoner for a few moments. The magician asked for the box to be sealed, which was done, and the thing subsequently passed into my possession."
"Stop one moment," Anstruther cried. "That box was sealed up and taken away by you. Nobody else touched it?"
The witness explained that nobody handled the box besides himself until Inspector Bates fetched it away under an authority from Scotland Yard. Sir Frederick went on to explain that he had been present when the seal of the box was broken.
"Nobody could tamper with it during the time you had it, I suppose?" Anstruther asked. "You kept it under lock and key?"
"The whole time," the witness cried. "You must understand that I am quite used to keeping valuable documents and that kind of thing. I took that box straight ho me, and locked it securely away in a drawer in my safe, where it remained until the police fetched it."
Asked if he had any further questions to put, Anstruther sullenly declined. He still harped upon the string that this was a criminal conspiracy got up against him by the police, and insinuated that the mysterious magician was nothing else than a detective smuggled into Lady Barmouth's house for the purpose of trapping him.