any one come through your bedroom window after you had retired to rest?"
"And I say to you, Mr. Jordan, that you have my sympathy in the position in which you find yourself. Don't you think if I were to put one or two questions to you, it might vary the monotony?"
"You hear, Mr. Coroner, what the witness says?"
"I do. And I regret to find that such conduct can be treated with levity." A titter had gone round the room. "If there is that sound again, I will immediately have the court cleared. Witness, look at me."
"If you desire it, with the greatest pleasure. Though there doesn't seem to be much to look at."
"How dare you speak to me like that?"
"No offence, my dear Mr. Coroner. A plain statement of a plain fact."
"Have you been drinking, sir?"
"That is said with an insolent intention. Is it impossible for an official person to be courteous?"
"Your behaviour is most extraordinary. You evidently cannot realise the serious nature of the occasion which brings us here. Are you aware, sir, that if you decline to answer the questions which are put to you, I can commit you to prison for contempt of Court?"
