Bouncer?"

"Oh yes;--I read a great deal of poetry."

"Shakespeare, perhaps?" Mr. Bouncer did not condescend to do more
than nod his head. "There is a murder described in _Hamlet_. Was that
supposed by the poet to have been devised suddenly?"

"I should say not."

"So should I, Mr. Bouncer. Do you remember the arrangements for the
murder in _Macbeth_? That took a little time in concocting;--didn't
it?"

"No doubt it did."

"And when Othello murdered Desdemona, creeping up to her in her
sleep, he had been thinking of it for some time?"

"I suppose he had."

"Do you ever read English novels as well as French, Mr. Bouncer?" The
unfortunate author again nodded his head. "When Amy Robsart was lured
to her death, there was some time given to the preparation,--eh?"

"Of course there was."

"Of course there was. And Eugene Aram, when he murdered a man in
Bulwer's novel, turned the matter over in his mind before he did it?"

"He was thinking a long time about it, I believe."

"Thinking about it a long time! I rather think he was. Those great
masters of human nature, those men who knew the human heart, did not
venture to describe a secret murder as coming from a man's brain
without premeditation?"

"Not that I can remember."

"Such also is my impression. But now, I bethink me of a murder that
was almost as sudden as this is supposed to have been. Didn't a Dutch
smuggler murder a Scotch lawyer, all in a moment as it were?"

"Dirk Hatteraick did murder Glossop in _The Antiquary_ very
suddenly;--but he did it from passion."

"Just so, Mr. Bouncer. There was no plot there, was there? No
arrangement; no secret creeping up to his victim; no escape even?"

"He was chained."

"So he was; chained like a dog;--and like a dog he flew at his enemy.
If I understand you, then, Mr. Bouncer, you would not dare so to
violate probability in a novel, as to produce a murderer to the
public who should contrive a secret hidden murder,--contrive it and
execute it, all within a quarter of an hour?"

Mr. Bouncer, after another minute's consideration, said that he
thought he would not do so. "Mr. Bouncer," said Mr. Chaffanbrass,
"I am uncommonly obliged to our excellent friend, Sir Gregory, for
having given us the advantage of your evidence."

CHAPTER LXII

Lord Fawn's Evidence

A crowd of witnesses were heard on the second day after Mr.
Chaffanbrass had done with Mr. Bouncer, but none of them were of much
interest t