Albert.—“You need not be positive. Nobody wants you to be positive. Nobody wants to entrap you, my good friend. During this quarter of an hour, or twenty minutes, or half an hour, that you speak of, did you ever lose sight of this vase?”
Witness.—“To be sure I did. I did not stand watching it all the while. Why should I? It was safe enough.”
Albert.—“Do you recollect where you found the vase when you took it to put it into the furnace?”
Witness.—“Yes: it was standing as it might be here, in the middle of the table.”
Albert.—“Do you recollect whether it was standing upon the tray or not?”
Witness.—“It was not upon the tray, as I recollect: no, I’m sure it was not, for I carried to the furnace first the tray and all that was on it, and then I remember, I came back for this, which was standing, as I said before, as it might be here, in the middle of the table.”
Albert.—“Was any body, except yourself, at the furnace, or in the room, from the time that this vase was brought to you, till you put it into the furnace?”
Witness.—“Not as I remember. It was our dinner-time. All the men, except myself, were gone to dinner: I stayed to mind the furnace.”
Albert.—“It was you, then, that took this vase off the tray, was it?”
Witness.—“No, it was not. I never took it off the tray. I told you it was not upon the tray with the others; I told you it was upon the table, as it might be here.”