“No, sir, I didn’t. It never occurred to me. A lot of the gentlemen who live in the Temple bring friends in late of nights; I never gave the matter any particular thought.” “Never mentioned it to anybody until now, when you were sent for to come here?” “No, sir, never, to anybody.” “And you have never known the gentleman standing there as anybody but Mr. Anderson?” “No, sir, never heard any other name but Anderson.” The Coroner glanced at the Counsel. “I think this may be a convenient opportunity for Mr. Aylmore to give the explanation he offered a few minutes ago,” he said. “Do you suggest anything?” “I suggest, sir, that if Mr. Aylmore desires to give any explanation he should return to the witness-box and submit himself to examination again on his oath,” replied the Counsel. “The matter is in your hands.” The Coroner turned to Aylmore. “Do you object to that?” he asked. Aylmore stepped boldly forward and into the box. “I object to nothing,” he said in clear tones, “except to being asked to reply to questions about matters of the past which have not and cannot have anything to do with this case. Ask me what questions you like, arising out of the evidence of the last two witnesses, and I will answer them so far as I see myself justified in doing so. Ask me questions about matters of twenty years ago, and I shall answer them or not as I see fit. And I may as well say that I will take all the consequences of my silence or my speech.” The Treasury Counsel rose again. “Very well, Mr. Aylmore,” he said. “I will put certain questions to you. You heard the evidence of David Lyell?” “I did.” “Was that quite true as regards yourself?” “Quite true—absolutely true.” “And you heard that of the last witness. Was that also true!” “Equally true.” “Then you admit that the evidence you gave this morning, before these witnesses came on the scene, was not true?” “No, I do not! Most emphatically I do not. It was true.” “True? You told me, on oath, that you parted from John Marbury on Waterloo Bridge!” “Pardon me, I said nothing of the sort. I said that from the Anglo-Orient Hotel we strolled across Waterloo Bridge, and that shortly afterwards we parted—I did not say where we parted. I see there is a shorthand writer here who is taking everything down—ask him if that is not exactly what I said?” A reference to the stenographer proved Aylmore to be right, and the Treasury Counsel showed plain annoyance. “Well, at any rate, you so phrased your answer that nine persons out of ten would have understood that you parted from Marbury in the open streets after crossing Waterloo Bridge,” he said. “Now—?” Aylmore smiled. “I am not responsible for the understanding of nine people out of ten any more than I am for your understanding,” he said, with a sneer. “I said what I now repeat—Marbury and I walked across Waterloo Bridge, and shortly afterwards we parted. I told you the truth.”