"Very little--in words; but he knew I hadn't seen Beaton cheat, and I knew he hadn't."
"How did you know he hadn't?"
"Because Beaton hadn't cheated; I'd been watching him all the time, he was seated next to me, and I was sure of it."
"Dodwell charged him with substituting one card for another. There was a card upon the floor; Dodwell said he had dropped it and taken the other in its place."
"The card upon the floor was mine."
"Do you mean that you had dropped it intentionally?"
"I didn't know I had dropped it till it was picked up. I recognised it as mine when I saw it--it was a nine of spades. I had two pairs in my hand--nine high; the nine of spades was one of them."
"And you, knowing the nine of spades was yours, had allowed us to think that Beaton had dropped it from his hand to take another, and a better one, in its place; in fact, one which gave him a full. You allowed us to think that?"
"I did."
"You admit that you never for a moment supposed that Beaton had cheated, having sufficient reasons for knowing otherwise; but it's possible that Dodwell may have thought he did."