The youth who performed the operation was a pleasant young man, whose excitement was so painful that I warned him it was High Treason to cut the throat of a peer of the realm when he was being tried for his life.
I asked him what his own opinion was as to my guilt.
The question took him so entirely by surprise that he sprang away from me fully a yard.
“Come,” I said. “What do people say?”
He flushed and was silent.
“So people think I am guilty, do they?”
“Some do, your grace.”
“That means that most do. Now, does anyone believe in my innocence?”
“Oh yes, my lord, of course, some.”
“I see; very few people believe in my innocence. Who are those that do?”