Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/444

362 362 FOSTHUiMOUS PAPERS OF

" Nathaniel Winkle," said Mr. Skirapin.

" Here ! " replied a feeble voice. And Mr. Winkle entered the witness-box, and having been duly sworn, bowed to the judge with considerable deference.

ment of the salute ; *' look at the jury."
 * ' Don't look at me, Sir," said the judge, sharply, in acknowledg-

Mr. Winkle obeyed the mandate, and looked at the place where he thought it most probable the jury might be ; for seeing anything in his then state of intellectual complication was wholly out of the question.

Mr. Winkle was then examined by Mr. Skimpin, who, being a pro- mising young man of two or three and forty, was of course anxious to confuse a witness who was notoriously predisposed in favour of the other side, as much as he could.

<' Now, Sir," said Mr. Skimpin, " have the goodness to let his Lord- ship and the jury know what your name is, will you?" And Mr. Skimpin inclined his head on one side to listen with great sharpness to the answer, and glanced at the jury meanwhile, as if to imply that he rather expected Mr. Winkle's natural taste for perjury would induce him to give some name which did not belong to him.

" Winkle," replied the witness.

" What's your Christian name, Sir ? " angrily inquired the little

" Nathaniel, Sir."

" Daniel, — anv other name ? "

" Nathaniel, Sir — my Lord, I mean."

" Nathaniel Daniel, or Daniel Nathaniel? "


 * « No, my Lord, only Nathaniel — not Daniel at all."

the judge.
 * ' W^hat did you tell me it was Daniel for, then, Sir?" inquired

"I didn't, my Lord, " replied Mr. Winkle.

" You did, Sir," replied the judge, with a severe frown. " How could I have got Daniel on my notes, unless you told me so, Sir ? "

This argument was, of course, unanswerable.

" Mr. Winkle has rather a short memory, my Lord," interposed Mr. Skimpin, with another glance at the jury. " We shall find means to refresh it before we have quite done with him, I dare say."

" You had better be careful, Sir," said the little judge, with a sinister look at the witness.

Poor Mr. Winkle bowed, and endeavoured to feign an easiness of manner, which, in his then state of confusion, gave him rather the air of a disconcerted pickpocket.

p.ease. Sir ; and let me recommend you, for your own sake, to bear in mind his Lordship's injunctions to be careful. I believe you are a par- ticular friend of Mr. Pickwick, the defendant, are you not ? "
 * ' Now, Mr. Winkle," said Mr. Skimpin, " attend to me, if you

" I have known Mr. Pickwick now, as well as I recollect at this moment, nearly — "

'' Pray, Mr. Winkle, do not evade the question. Are you, or are you not, a particular friend of the defendant's ? "