"Not any of them?"
"Not to swear to."
"Indeed! Yet you could tell us in detail all about his other speeches?"
"Not so," Denis corrected, rather stiff. "I did not tell you in detail, I told you in substance. That is quite another thing."
"With considerable fullness and fluency, however," said his questioner dryly. "Well, then: you remember all these other stories, so far as you do remember them, but you have forgotten every single word of this—which you say was the worst of all? Can't you give us the substance of that too?"
"It was not a story," said Denis, now very stiff indeed, "it was a few broken sentences. I cann't remember them accurately, and I won't make guesses. I dismissed them from memory as soon as I could. I don't burden my mind with pornographic details."
"Quite so; but surely without infringing either truth or decency you can give us some rough idea as to what this mysterious speech was about? Was it about a woman, for example?"
Denis remained obstinately silent.
"Can't remember even that? Only you are sure it was offensive?"