"What did he say?"
"That it looked very awkward, no doubt; but that many people got into awkward positions and got out of them again."
"I asked him had he been summoned as a witness, and he said naturally he had, as he was the last person who saw the dead man alive."
"By Jove, O'Brien! Go on."
"I asked him how he thought the death occurred. He said that was beyond him to say. He had no doubt it was accidental, and that the memorandum on the piece of paper written under the influence of delirium might be an idea created by chloroform, or while suffering from a relapse of the old disease which seized him at Florence years ago."
"The same story identically. Did he say anything more?"
"Yes. I asked him did anything unpleasant occur between himself and Mr. Davenport that night?"
"What did he say to that?" eagerly asked the attorney.
"He looked at me doubtfully for a moment. 'O'Brien,' he said, 'you know more about this than the outside public. You are interested in it?' I said I was interested in it very indirectly. 'Very well, then,' said he, 'I'm going to the inquest. You come with me and then you shall hear the truth as far as I know it.'"
"This put me in a queer fix. I had not up to this told him I was on my way to this place. I could not keep the fact any longer to myself, so I told him I expected to find friends here, nothing more; and I asked him if I might communicate the substance of what he had said to them. He gave me full liberty. After all this, you will see I could not very well shake him off. When we got here he shook himself off. Mrs. Davenport's name was never mentioned by either of us. He did not show the least curiosity when I said I took an indirect interest in the case."