"Yes; it is exactly that. You must go and be a witness about yourself. Who else can tell the truth as to all the matters in question as well as yourself? You should understand, Mr Jones, that you should not take this step with the view of punishing the newspaper." "Why, then?" "In order that you may show yourself willing to place yourself there to be questioned. 'Here I am,' you would say. 'If there be any point in which you wish me to be examined as to this property and this will, here I am to answer you.' It is that you may show that you are not afraid of investigation." But it was exactly this of which Cousin Henry was afraid. "You cannot but be aware of what is going on in Carmarthen." "I know about the newspaper." "It is my duty not to blink the matter. Every one, not only in the town but throughout the country, is expressing an opinion that right has not been done." "What do they want? I cannot help it if my uncle did not make a will according to their liking." "They think that he did make a will according to their liking, and that there has been foul play." "Do they accuse me?" "Practically they do. These articles in the paper are only an echo of the public voice. And that voice is becoming stronger and stronger every day because you take no steps to silence it. Have you seen yesterday's paper?" "Yes; I saw it," said Cousin Henry, gasping for breath. Then Mr Apjohn brought a copy of the newspaper out of his pocket, and began to read a list of questions which the editor was supposed to ask the public generally. Each question was an insult, and Cousin Henry, had he dared, would have bade the reader desist, and have turned him out of the room for his insolence in reading them. "Has Mr Henry Jones expressed an opinion of his own as to what became of the will which the Messrs Cantor witnessed?" "Has Mr Henry Jones consulted any friend, legal or otherwise, as to his tenure of the Llanfeare estate?" "Has Mr Henry Jones any friend to whom he can speak in Carmarthenshire?" "Has Mr Henry Jones inquired into the cause of his own isolation?" "Has Mr Henry Jones any idea why we persecute him in every fresh issue of our newspaper?" "Has Mr Henry Jones thought of what may possibly be the end of all this?" "Has Mr Henry Jones any thought of prosecuting us for libel?" "Has Mr Henry Jones heard of any other case in which an heir has been made so little welcome to his property?" So the questions went on, an almost endless list, and the lawyer read them one after another, in a low, plain voice, slowly, but with clear accentuation, so that every point intended by the questioner might be understood. Such a martyrdom surely no man was ever doomed to bear before. In every line he was described as a thief. Yet he bore it; and when the lawyer came to an end of the abominable questions, he sat silent, trying to smile. What was he to say?