"I look it, madam--how do you mean?" "You look the sort of character." "To what sort of character, madam, do you refer?" "You look like the sort of person who would wear another man's clothes." He drew himself bolt upright, as if his backbone had suddenly been straightened by a spring. "Madam! I would have you to know that I wear no one's clothes but my own." "You are wearing my husband's clothes at this present moment." "Your husband's clothes?" "Were they not purchased with his money?" "Madam! you have a very extraordinary way of putting things. Is it possible that you intend to be offensive?" "Is it possible to be offensive to such as you?" "I, madam, am a gentleman, born and bred." "That you are a gentleman of a certain kind I have no doubt whatever." The man began to look badgered, as if he were growing conscious of a feeling of tightness about the region of the chest. He commenced to smooth the nap of his hat, violently, with his gloved hand. "I take it, Mrs. Tennant, that you don't quite realise the position in which your husband stands." "And I take it that you don't at all realise the position in which you stand." The fellow ceased brushing his hat, the better to enable him to stare. "I stand?" "Yes, you." "And pray, madam, how do I stand?" "Have you ever heard of such a thing as an accessory after the fact?" "An accessory after the fact?" "Because that is the position in which you stand--in the position of an accessory after the fact." The man looked unmistakably uneasy. He continued to suspend the operation of smoothing his hat. "You are pleased to be facetious." "You will find that that view will not be taken by a judge and jury." It was with a distinct effort that the fellow returned to an attitude of defiance--squaring his shoulders and tugging at his moustache. "I have no wish, and no intention, to chop phrases with a lady. I imagined, madam, that you desired to say something pertinent to your husband's terrible position--with the gallows already shadowing him. Since it appears to be otherwise I can but proceed to do my duty." "By all means do your duty. But you understand that when my husband is arrested you will be arrested too." "Pooh, madam--you cannot frighten me!" "But I can, and will, get you penal servitude for life." "Can you, indeed, madam? May I ask how you propose to do it?" "By telling the plain and simple story of your connection with my husband. That will be sufficient, as you know." "I know nothing of the sort; tell your story, and be hanged!" Thrusting his hat upon his head, the fellow marched out of the room in a couple of strides. His exit, whether consciously to himself or not, was marked rather by haste than by dignity. When he had gone I looked at my wife. Lucy, on her part, looked at the door through which he had vanished. "Now you've done it," I observed.