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 far for further dissimulation to be of any avail, he slowly closed one eye with an excruciating wink, and jerked his thumb three times over his left shoulder.

"Innocent, my dear sir?" he said. "We judges innocent? All put on, sir—a mere trick of the trade. Merely done for effect, sir, as a foil to emphasise and contrast the depth of our erudition, and the grasp and subtlety of our reasoning when we come to the summing up. See?—ahem!"

A stranger entered the compartment, and his lordship replaced his umbrella handle and crowed violently.