“No. But when we came to you at your place, why did you run away from us?”
“I hadn’t had a good look at her then. I thought it best to keep out of the way.”
“Why weren’t you willing to come to the post and let the whole thing be explained?”
Imbrie’s face suddenly turned dark with rage. He burst out, scarcely coherently: “I’ll tell you that! And you can all digest it! A fat chance I’d have had among you! A fat chance I have now of getting a fair hearing! If she came all this way to find me, it’s clear she wanted to make up, isn’t it? Yet when she saw me, she turned away. She’d been travelling with you too long. You’d put your spell on her. You said she’d lost her memory. Bunk! Looks more like hypnotism to me. You wanted her for yourself. That’s the whole explanation of this case. You’ve got nothing on me. You only want to railroad me so that the way will be clear for you with her. Why, when I was bound up they made love to each other before my very face. Isn’t that true?”
“I am not under examination just now,” said Stonor coldly.
“Answer me as a man, isn’t it true?”
“No, it’s a damned lie!”
“Well, if it had been me, I would!” cried the little Major.
Sergeant Lambert concealed a large smile behind his large hand.
Stonor, outwardly unmoved, said: “May I ask the woman one more question, sir, before I lay a charge against the man?”