Page:The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.djvu/445

363 THE PICKWICK CLUB. 3G3


 * < I was just about to say, that — "

" Will you, or will you not, answer my question, Sir? "

" If you don't answer the question, you'll be committed, Sir," inter- posed the little judge, looking- over his note-book.

'* Come, Sir," said Mr. Skimpin, " yes or no, if you please."

" Yes, I am," replied Mr. Winkle.

" Yes, you are. And why couldn't you say that at once, Sir? Perhaps you know the plaintiff too — eh, Mr. Winkle ? "

" I don't know her; I've seen her."

" Oh, you don't know her, but you've seen her ? Now, have the goodness to tell the gentlemen of the jury what you mean by that, Mr. Winkle."

" I mean that I am not intimate with her, but that I have seen her when I went to call on Mr. Pickwick, in Goswell-street."

" How often have you seen her, Sir ? "

" How often ? "

" Yes, Mr. W^inkle, how often ? I'll repeat the question for you a dozen times, if you require it, Sir." And the learned gentleman, with a firm and steady frown, placed his hands on his hips, and smiled sus- piciously to the jury.

On this question there arose the edifying brow-beating, customary on such points. First of all. Mr. Winkle said it was quite impossible for him to say how many times he had seen Mrs. Bardell. Then he was asked if he had seen her twenty times, to which he replied, " Cer- tainly, — more than that." And then he was asked whether he hadn't seen her a hundred times — whether he couldn't swear that he had seen her more than fifty times — whether he didn't know that he had seen her at least seventy-five times, and so forth ; the satisfactory conclusion which was arrived at, at last, being — that he had better take care of himself, and mind what he was about. The witness having been by these means reduced to the requisite ebb of nervous perplexity, the examination was continued as follows —

" Pray, Mr. Winkle, do you remember calling on the defendant Pick- wick at these apartments in the plaintiff's house in Goswell-street, on one particular morning, in the month of July last ? "

" Yes, I do."

" Were you accompanied on that occasion by a friend of the name of Tupman, and another of the name of Snodgrass ? "

" Yes, I was ? "

" Are they here ? "

" Yes, they are "—replied Mr. Winkle, looking very earnestly towards the spot where his friends were stationed.

" Pray attend to me, Mr. Winkle, and never mind your friends" — said Mr. Skimpin, with another expressive look at the jury. '' They must tell their stories without any previous consultation with you, if none has yet taken place (another look at the jury). Now, Sir, tell the gentlemen of the jury what you saw on entering the defendant's room, on this particular morning. Come; out with it, Sir; we must have it, •ooner or later."