"A trifle taller than you are."
"But yet not above the average," persisted Shagarach.
"Perhaps not."
"The government wishes us to believe that there was a bomb purposely placed under this safe. That would raise it from the floor several inches, would it not?"
"I suppose so. I know nothing about the bomb."
"Will you kindly explain how the locksmith could be kneeling while at work on a safe which, according to the testimony of Miss Lund, at the hearing, was resting on a shelf as high as her waist from the ground?"
The witness fanned herself nervously and once or twice opened her lips to reply, but no sound came forth. A wave of frightened sympathy passed through the spectators in the prolonged interim of silence, like that which seizes an audience when an orator falters and threatens to break down.
"You do not answer, Miss Lamb?"
"I feel faint," said the girl. A chair and a glass of water were hurried to her aid.
"Are you sure this is the man Aronson who visited you?" asked Shagarach when she had recovered.