"
"Such also is my impression. But now, I bethink me of a murder that
was almost as sudden as this is supposed to have been. Didn't a Dutch
smuggler murder a Scotch lawyer, all in a moment as it were?"
"Dirk Hatteraick did murder Glossop in _The Antiquary_ very
suddenly;--but he did it from passion."
"Just so, Mr. Bouncer. There was no plot there, was there? No
arrangement; no secret creeping up to his victim; no escape even?"
"He was chained."
"So he was; chained like a dog;--and like a dog he flew at his enemy.
If I understand you, then, Mr. Bouncer, you would not dare so to
violate probability in a novel, as to produce a murderer to the
public who should contrive a secret hidden murder,--contrive it and
execute it, all within a quarter of an hour?"
Mr. Bouncer, after another minute's consideration, said that he
thought he would not do so. "Mr. Bouncer," said Mr. Chaffanbrass,
"I am uncommonly obliged to our excellent friend, Sir Gregory, for
having given us the advantage of your evidence."
CHAPTER LXII
Lord Fawn's Evidence
A crowd of witnesses were heard on the second day after Mr.
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