"Not at all!" said Pendleton easily. "You have forgotten the most important part—please listen, Mr. Emerson—the most important part, I say. Let me remind you what it is."
"It isn't anything, I tell you!" Dolittle exclaimed.
"Think again!" Pendleton admonished, accompanied by the faintest pressure—which instantly brought a spasm of pain to the other's face. "You will, I'm sure.—Now this is what you omitted to relate. You told Mr. Emerson that you saw Mrs. Lorraine being kissed by Porshinger last evening in the Croyden conservatory, but you forgot to add that he kissed her by force and despite her struggles.—Repeat it, please."
Dolittle was sullenly silent.
"Do you hear?" asked Pendleton, beginning to apply the pressure.
Dolittle stood the agony for an instant—then he wilted.
"I neglected to add, Mr. Emerson," he gasped, "that Porshinger kissed Mrs. Lorraine by force and despite her struggles."
"I thought you could be depended upon to tell the whole truth," Pendleton remarked, easing up a trifle on his grip so that the other stood at ease.
"Then if you want the whole truth, why was it that the lady went back to the ballroom with Porshinger?" Dolittle sneered.