"Do you remember when and where we met again?" "You had the insolence to call at my house." "Was it on a Monday morning, the first after the Bank Holiday?" "I suppose it was." "I do not ask you to recall your exact words on that occasion. I simply ask you to inform the bench whether I did, or did not, offer to resign the living then and there--on a certain condition." "Yes; you did," said Sir Wilton, doggedly. He was very red in the face. Carlton could not resist a moment's enjoyment of his discomfiture: it heightened the pleasure of letting him off. "And did you decline?" he said at length. "Stop a moment," said the chairman. "What was this condition, Sir Wilton?" "Am I obliged to give it?" "Oh, if you think it inexpedient----" "I think it unnecessary," said the witness, emphatically. "I think it has nothing whatever to do with the case." "In that case, Sir Wilton, we shall be only too happy not to press the point." Carlton had a great mind to press it himself. He had invited his enemy to build the church out of his own pocket. The invitation had been declined. Would it also be denied? Carlton was curious to see; but he overcame his curiosity. It would not strengthen his defence, and to mere revenge he must not stoop. So one temptation was resisted, and one advantage thrown away, even in the final phase of the long duel between these good fighters. But the other saw the struggle, and felt as he had done when Carlton had returned him his stick in the ruins of the church. "And did you decline?" repeated Carlton, in identically the same voice as before. "I did." "Did I then point out to you that I was not only entitled, but might be compelled, to keep my chancel, at any rate, 'in good and substantial repair, restoring and rebuilding when necessary'? I quote the Act, your worships, as I quoted it then. Do you remember, Sir Wilton?" "I do." "I made the point as plain as I have made it now?" "Yes." "And what did you say to that?" The sudden change in the style of the question was glossed over by the single artifice which Robert Carlton permitted himself during the conduct of his case: instead of ringing triumphant, his voice dropped as though he feared the answer. Sir Wilton fell into the trap. "I said, 'If that's the law I'll see you keep it. Go and build your church! Where there's a law there will be a penalty; go build your church or I'll enforce it.'" "Which did you expect to enforce--the penalty or the law?" "I didn't mind which," declared the witness, after hesitation; and his indifference was less successfully assumed than before. "Oh!" said Carlton; "so you didn't mind my building the church after all?" Sir Wilton appealed wildly to the Bench. "Am I to be browbeaten and insulted, by a convicted libertine and evil liver, without one word of protest or reproof?" The chairman coloured with confusion and indecision. "I am afraid that you must answer his question, Sir Wilton," said Mr. Preston, mildly.