“Quite true.”
“And you made an excuse for leaving her—see! here it is, written down. You made an excuse, and left her when she asked for an explanation.”
“I did.”
He consulted the paper again.
“My daughter says—No! I won’t be hurried and I won’t be interrupted—she says you were confused. Is that so?”
“It is so. Let your questions wait for a moment. I wish to tell you why I was confused.”
“Haven’t I said I won’t be interrupted? Do you think you can shake my resolution?” He referred to the paper again. “I have lost the place. It’s your fault—find it for me.”
The evidence which was intended to convict me was the evidence which I was expected to find! I pointed it out to him.
His natural courtesy asserted itself in spite of his anger. He said “Thank you,” and questioned me the moment after as fiercely as ever. “Go back to the time, sir, when we met in your rooms at the prison. Did you know my wife then?”
“Certainly not.”