Considering the romantic interest of the case, this was by no means "a full bench"; there were, however, some conspicuous and deliberate absentees, including Sir Wilton Gleed and Dr. Marigold. Carlton was less surprised at his enemy's abstinence than at the position voluntarily occupied by James Preston, an indolent cleric but genial gentleman, who had been his friend. His surprise deepened when Preston nodded to him, hastily enough, and with a change of colour, but yet in a way that thrilled Carlton with a doubt as to whether he had altogether lost that friend. He was in no such suspense concerning the stately chairman, who very properly looked at the prisoner as though he had never seen him before, and never addressed him without tuning his voice to the proper pitch of distant disapproval. This was not a question of losing a friend, but of having made an enemy of the most potent personage in the court. The latter was densely crowded when the stout inspector opened the case, but the familiar faces stood out in quick succession, and they were not a few. In a doorway apart stood a Long Stow trio--the saddler, the sexton, and Tom Ivey; all three were in their Sunday clothes, and more or less visibly ill at ease; but it was only Ivey who reddened and looked away when the prisoner caught his eye. As for Carlton, he became so lost in sudden and absorbing speculation that it was some minutes before he realised that the inspector had finished a bald brief statement of his case, and that a witness was already in the box and giving evidence. The witness, however, was only Frost, the village constable, and his evidence merely that of the arrest on the Saturday at Long Stow. Carlton nevertheless whipped out his pocket-book, and the witness waited before standing down. "May I ask him two or three questions?" said the prisoner, addressing himself with courtesy to the bench. "As many as you please," replied the chairman, "provided they are relevant." Carlton bowed before turning to the witness. "How far were you responsible for the warrant on which you arrested me?" "Re-spon-si-ble!" exclaimed the chairman in separate syllables. "What do you mean?" "I wish to ascertain exactly in what measure the witness has been concerned in trumping up this charge against me." "That is not the language in which to inquire!" "Your worships may discover that it is exceedingly mild language, before the case is over." "I shall not allow you to cross-examine witnesses unless you do so with due respect to the bench." The clerk to the justices, who had examined the witness, was the means of averting an immediate scene. "I think, your worship, that he wishes to know whether the witness laid the information against him." "I thank you," said Carlton, an incredible twinkle in his eye, as he again turned to the witness. "I do desire to ask you, with due respect to the bench, whether you 'laid this information' against me, or whether you did not?" "I did," said Frost.