"Yes. And now, Mrs. Greening, I will ask you if at any time your husband ever told you what was said, if anything, by any party inside of that house when he run up to the kitchen door that night and knocked?" "I object!" said the prosecutor sharply, flinging out his ready hand. "Don't answer that question!" warned the judge. Mrs. Greening had it on her lips; anybody who could read print on a signboard could have told what they were shaped to say. She held them there in their preliminary position of enunciation, pursed and wrinkled, like the tied end of a sausage-link. "I will frame the question in another manner," said Hammer, again feeling the need of his large handkerchief. "There is no form that would be admissible, your honor," protested the prosecutor. "It is merely hearsay that the counsel for the defense is attempting to bring out and get before the jury. I object!" "Your course of questioning, Mr. Hammer, is highly improper, and in flagrant violation to the established rules of evidence," said the judge. "You must confine yourself to proof by this witness of what she, of her own knowledge and experience, is cognizant of. Nothing else is permissible." "But, your honor, I intend to show by this witness that when Sol Greening knocked on that door----" "I object! She wasn't present; she has testified that she was at home at that time, and in bed." This from the prosecutor, in great heat. "Your honor, I intend to prove--" began Hammer. "This line of questioning is not permissible, as I told you before," said the judge in stern reproof. But Hammer was obdurate. He was for arguing it, and the judge ordered the sheriff to conduct the jury from the room. Mrs. Greening, red and uncomfortable, and all at sea over it, continued sitting in the witness-chair while Hammer laid it off according to his view of it, and the prosecutor came back and tore his contentions to pieces. The judge, for no other purpose, evidently, than to prove to the defendant and public alike that he was unbiased and fair--knowing beforehand what his ruling must be--indulged Hammer until he expended his argument. Then he laid the matter down in few words. Mrs. Greening had not been present when her husband knocked on the door of Isom Chase's kitchen that night; she did not know, therefore, of her own experience what was spoken. No matter what her husband told her he said, or anybody else said, she could not repeat the words there under oath. It would be hearsay evidence, and such evidence was not admissible in any court of law. No matter how important such testimony might appear to one seeking the truth, the rules of evidence in civilized courts barred it. Mrs. Greening's lips must remain sealed on what Sol said Joe said, or anybody said to someone else.