"No."
"Will you be so good as to say where you were living during January and February last?"
"I was at my villa near Porto Maurizio from November last year until the beginning of April in this year."
Sir Joseph had no more questions to ask. The defendant's counsel exercised his right to cross-examine the witness, who stood facing the Court, calm and proud, but deadly pale.
"Were these paragraphs in the—er"—looking at his brief—"Bon Ton, the first you had heard of a scandal associating your name with Colonel Rannock's, Lady Perivale?" he asked blandly.
"It was the first time such a scandal had appeared in print."
"But the scandal was not unfamiliar to you?"
"No."
"You had heard of it before?"
"Yes."