“Have I got to answer that, your worship?”
The judge hesitates.
“No,” he says at last. “I do not direct you to answer that question.”
Sir Harold, now frowning a little, turns again to his witness, “What happened after this conversation with Guy Cheale?”
“I got him to let me send for the doctor, because I thought he was going to die right then.”
“But to the best of your belief—this is a very important point, Mrs. Cheale—he was absolutely in his right mind when he made this strange communication to you?”
“Yes, absolutely in his right mind, sir. In fact, he wanted me to have in somebody to take down the statement he had just made to me. But I was frightened—I thought he would be taken to prison. Cruel things are done, sir, sometimes, to us poor folk, even when we’re dying.”
Sir Harold in a moved tone says:
“I fear that is so, though I would fain hope not, Mrs. Cheale.”
He waits a moment. He is so obviously, so genuinely moved, that every one in Court feels a sudden wave of liking for him.