Page:Waylaid by Wireless - Balmer - 1909.djvu/182

Rh unwarranted alarm over my visits which these stupid and libellous reports, if left uncorrected, would cause them to suffer.

Therefore, I wish to state—and this statement can be verified at the end of two weeks when S.S. Bahia reaches Rio de Janeiro, for which port she sailed with Mr. Hareston from Plymouth at midnight last night—that I neither committed a murder nor made a murderous assault upon Mr. Hareston at the Devonshire Inn.

In fact, if I had appreciated that he had been drinking heavily and was very drunk when he disturbed me during my visit, I would gladly have retired quietly, as I have done more than once before when anything involved a personal contact, however harmless. But he himself prevented that by a direct attack upon me. However, I took such care of him even after he had grappled with me, that I even permitted myself to be slightly hurt to save him a more serious wound. So the stains which appear to have alarmed and misled the 160