"Then who did tell you?"
"Well, it was common gossip."
"Gossip!" Ronnie jumped on the word. "Where?"
"Oh, all over the place."
"Ah!" Counsel for the defense jingled two thoughtful coins. "I'm afraid I don't know Brixton very well, Mr. Hodges. Tell me, please, when you say all over the place, do you include," more jingling in the trouser-pocket, "a certain public-house called--'The Red Lion'?"
"Well----" the witness hesitated.
"Let me put my point clearly. Do you know, in Brixton, a public-house called 'The Red Lion'?"
"Yes."
"How far is that public-house from 25 Laburnum Grove?"
"About half a mile."