Loram interrupted: "I make no insinuations. I merely ask, Is your
employer, Mr. Hurst, an unmarried man, or is he not?"
"I never asked him," said the witness sulkily.
"Please answer my question--yes or no?"
"How can I answer your question? He may be unmarried or he may not. How
do I know? I'm not a private detective."
Mr. Loram directed a stupefied gaze at the witness, and in the ensuing
silence a plaintive voice came from the bench:
"Is the point material?"
"Certainly, my lord," replied Mr. Loram.
"Then, as I see that you are calling Mr. Hurst, perhaps you had better
put the question to him. He will probably know."
Mr. Loram bowed, and as the judge subsided into his normal state of coma
he turned to the triumphant witness.
"Do you remember anything remarkable occurring on the twenty-third of
November the year before last?"
"Yes. Mr. John Bellingham called at our house."
"How did you know he was Mr. John Bellingham?"
"I didn't; but he said he was, and I supposed he knew."
"At what time did he arrive?"
"At twenty minutes past five in the evening.
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