“Now,” asked Mr. Nimble, “what are you?”
The learned Judge said he could not see what that had to do with the question. Could Mr. Nimble resist the facts?
“Yes, my lord,” answered the learned counsel; “and I intend, in the first place, to resist them by showing that this woman is entirely unworthy of credit.”
“Are you really going to suggest perjury, Mr. Nimble?”
“Assuredly, my lord! I am going to show that there is not a word of truth in this woman’s statement. I have a right to cross-examine as to her credit. If your lordship will allow me, I will—”
“Cross-examination, Mr. Nimble, cannot be allowed, in order to make a witness contradict all that she has said in her examination-in-chief; it would be a strange state of the law, if it could.”
Mr. Nimble looked about the desk, and then under it, and felt in his bag, and at last exclaimed in a somewhat petulant tone:
“Where’s my Taylor?”
“What do you want your tailor for?” asked the Judge.
“I wish to point out to your lordship that my proposition is correct, and that I can cross-examine to the credit of a witness.”