ng your life?"

"It might bear that construction."

"It might bear any construction in the mind of a man determined to see
everything in the worst possible light. It is a matter of public
notoriety, Mr. Faulkner, that you have received several threatening
letters, and that the active part you have taken against poachers and
smugglers has caused some feeling against you. Do you not think it
likely that when Mr. Wyatt used the words you have repeated he referred
to this circumstance?"

"A magistrate who does his duty must necessarily be unpopular with the
criminal classes."

"Possibly, Mr. Faulkner, though I have known many magistrates who did
their duty and who were by no means unpopular; but you have not answered
my question. Do you not think that in saying what he did Mr. Wyatt
simply alluded to the fact of your well-known unpopularity, and to the
threatening letters that you have received?"

"Possibly he did," Mr. Faulkner admitted reluctantly, "although that was
not my impression at the time."

"Well, then, unless there were further threats, as you call them, I
think we have disposed of the alleged abuse and the alleged murderous
threats. Now we come to the other charge. You thought that he was about
to strike you, and in self-defence gave him a blow. What made you think
that he was going to strike you?"

"He made a step towards me with a threatening gesture."

"Oh, I dare say that he was angry, but a gentleman who has been called a
loafing young scoundrel is somewhat apt to lose his temper. You might
even do so yourself, Mr. Faulkner, if so addressed. Well, then, he made
a step towards you; thereupon you struck him in the face, and judging
from his appearance you struck him pretty hard, and then you say he
caught you up and carried you along. It says a good deal for his
strength that he was able to do so. Now you say he carried you towards
the fire, and would have thrown you upon it had not some of the
coast-guardsmen interfered in time. Now, how do you know that that was
his intention?"

"I firmly believe that it was so."

"It is not a question of belief. You might believe that he was going to
throw you up to the moon. You struggled, I suppose--you would scarcely
submit to be carried like a baby--I imagine that is about the long and
short of it. But even if he had intended to throw you on the fire, which
certainly seems to be merely a matter of your imagination, you can
hardly pretend that had he carri