"No; it was an unexpected visit. He was going to Ireland, and paused on his way through town to come down to Windyhill."
"You have particular reasons for remembering the date, which make it impossible that there could be any mistake?"
"No; there could be no mistake."
"You will perhaps inform the court, Mrs. Compton, why your memory is so exact on this point."
Once more she hesitated for a moment, and then replied—
"It was exactly ten days before my marriage."
"I think that will do, Mrs. Compton. I will trouble you no further," the counsel said.
The hubbub which sprang up upon this seemed to Philip for the moment as if it were directed against his mother, which, of course, was not the case, but intended to express the indignant surprise of the defence at the elaborate examination of a witness who had nothing to say on the main subject.
The leader on the other side, however, though taken by surprise, and denouncing the trick which his learned brother had played upon the court by producing evidence which had really nothing to do with the matter, announced his intention to put a further question or two to Mrs. Compton. Young Philip in the crowd started again from his seat with the feeling that he would like to fly at that man's throat.
"Twenty years is a long time," he said, "and it is difficult to be sure of any circumstance at such a distance. Perhaps the witness will kindly inform us what were the circumstances which fixed this, no doubt one of many visits, on her mind?"