"Fifteen thousand dollars about?"
"About that—about a lawyer's fee for one whisper to a client less than that. It began with that and ended with nothing."
"Then you escaped?"
"From creditors, lawyers, and other such? No, I found you here."
The judge intervened again almost harshly on the laughter of the court, with the remark that a man was being tried for his life; that ribaldry was out of place; and that, unless the course pursued by the counsel was to discredit the reliability of the character of the witness, the examination was in excess of the privilege of counsel.
"Your honour has rightly apprehended what my purpose is," Burlingame said deprecatingly. He then turned to Crozier again, and his voice rose as it did when he began the examination. It was as though he was starting all over again.
"What was it compelled" (he was boldly venturing) "you to leave Ireland at last? What was the incident which drove you out from the land where you were born—from being the owner of two thousand acres"—
"Partly bog," interposed Crozier.
"—From being the owner of two thousand acres to becoming a kind of head- groom on a ranch? What was the cause of your flight?"
"Flight! I came in one of the steamers of the Company for which your firm are the agents. Eleven days it took to come from Glasgow to Quebec."