J. N. Do you want to ask the witness anything? If not, sir, hold your tongue, sir. No, sir; don’t speak, sir. I can see that you are meditating bullying me; let me advise you, sir, not to try it.
Mr. H. ( to Pot.) Was that the only occasion on which you heard him speaking?
Pot. No; I have heard him speaking in Hyde Park and saying much the same thing, and calling Mr. Justice Nupkins a damned old fool!
J. N. ( writing ). “A damned old fool!” Anything else?
Pot. A blasted old cheat!
J. N. ( writing ). “A blasted old cheat!” ( Cheerfully ) Go on.
Pot. Another time he was talking in a public-house with two men whom I understood to be members of the Fabian League. He was having words with them, and one of them said, “Ah, but you forget the rent of ability”; and he said, “Damn the rent of ability, I will smash their rents of abilities.”
Mr. H. Did you know what that meant?
Pot. No; not then.
Mr. H. But you do now?