tammered, and with difficulty got out a lame denial.

'I don't dislike her particular.'

'Do you like her?'

'No.'

'Did you ever have any complaint against her when you were her
servant?' (He intentionally chose a phrase calculated to irritate.)

'I wasn't her servant,' was the angry reply. 'I should be very sorry
to be.'

'I thought so. Tell me, you said to my learned friend that the first
sound you heard on this night was like somebody being hurt, didn't
you?'

'Yes, sir.'

'When did you discover that?'

'When did I discover that?'

'Yes, woman; don't echo me like that. You know what I mean.'

'I thought so at the time.'

_'What!'_ The barrister assumed an expression of amaze.

'I thought so all along.'

'Then why didn't you say so all along? When you were before the
magistrates, did you say anything about somebody being hurt?'

'Yes, I think so.'

'You think so! Remember you are on your oath, please, and that I have
a copy before me of what you actually did say before the magistrates.
When you were before them, did you say a syllable about a sound as if
somebody were being hurt?'

'I don't know whether I did or not.'

'I thought so. Did you tell the magistrate that you thought it was the
sound of someone in troubled sleep?' Here the barrister read from his
brief.

'Yes, sir.'

'And that you thought'--here he turned over the page at which he was
looking and glanced at the top of the next, so as to give the
impression that he was still reading her exact words--'that the sound
came from Miss Owen's room?'

The witness fell into the trap.

'I dare say I did,' she answered.

The judge was equally taken in. He had read the depositions, but had
not remembered their contents clearly enough to check the barrister.
Tressamer went to another point.

Taking out his watch, he said:

'I want to test your notion of ten minutes. Will you turn round, with
your back to the clock, and tell me when one minute has passed, after
I have said the word "Now."'

All the jurymen and most of the other persons in court took out their
watches to check this experiment. The girl turned round, and Tressamer
gave the word, 'Now!'

'Tick--tick--tick--tick--tick----'

'Now!' said the witness, turning quickly round.

A general smile passed over the court.

'Seventeen seconds exactly, my lord,' observed Tressamer. 'The
witness's ten minutes may therefore be put down as three. You have
told his lordship that th