consider him a tall man, my lord? There he
is, you can look at him. Is he a tall man?" Lord Fawn did look, but
wouldn't give an answer. "I'll undertake to say, my lord, that there
isn't a person in the Court at this moment, except yourself, who
wouldn't be ready to express an opinion on his oath that Mr. Finn is
a tall man. Mr. Chief Constable, just let the prisoner step out from
the dock for a moment. He won't run away. I must have his lordship's
opinion as to Mr. Finn's height." Poor Phineas, when this was said,
clutched hold of the front of the dock, as though determined that
nothing but main force should make him exhibit himself to the Court
in the manner proposed.

But the need for exhibition passed away. "I know that he is a very
tall man," said Lord Fawn.

"You know that he is a very tall man. We all know it. There can be
no doubt about it. He is, as you say, a very tall man,--with whose
personal appearance you have long been familiar? I ask again, my
lord, whether you have not been long familiar with his personal
appearance?" After some further agonising delay Lord Fawn at last
acknowledged that it had been so. "Now we shall get on like a house
on fire," said Mr. Chaffanbrass.

But still the house did not burn very quickly. A string of questions
was then asked as to the attitude of the man who had been seen coming
out of the mews wearing a grey great coat,--as to his attitude, and
as to his general likeness to Phineas Finn. In answer to these Lord
Fawn would only say that he had not observed the man's attitude, and
had certainly not thought of the prisoner when he saw the man. "My
lord," said Mr. Chaffanbrass, very solemnly, "look at your late
friend and colleague, and remember that his life depends probably on
the accuracy of your memory. The man you saw--murdered Mr. Bonteen.
With all my experience in such matters,--which is great; and with all
my skill,--which is something, I cannot stand against that fact. It
is for me to show that that man and my client were not one and the
same person, and I must do so by means of your evidence,--by sifting
what you say to-day, and by comparing it with what you have already
said on other occasions. I understand you now to say that there is
nothing in your remembrance of the man you saw, independently of the
colour of the coat, to guide you to an opinion whether that man was
or was not one and the same with the prisoner?"

In all the crowd then assembled there was no m