"Yes, I see," he said thoughtfully. "That makes a difference--a big difference." Then he sat upright again and said sharply:
"You were in Bombay then when Mrs. Ballantyne was brought down from Chitipur?"
"And when the case for the Crown was started?"
"And when the Crown's witnesses were cross-examined?"
"Why did you wait then all that time before you came forward?" Pettifer put the question with an air of triumph. "Why, Mr. Thresk, did you wait till the very moment when Mrs. Ballantyne was going to be definitely committed to a particular line of defence before you announced that you could clear up the mystery? Doesn't it rather look as if you had remained hidden on the chance of the prosecution breaking down, and had only come forward when you realised that to-morrow self-defence would be pleaded, the firing of that rook-rifle admitted and a terrible risk of a verdict of guilty run?"
Thresk agreed without a moment's hesitation.
"But that's the truth, Mr. Pettifer," he said, and Mr. Pettifer sprang up.
"Consider my position"--Thresk drew up his chair close to the table--"a barrister who was beginning to have one of the large practices, the Courts opening in London, briefs awaiting me, cases on which I had already advised coming on. I had already lost a fortnight. That was bad enough, but if I came forward with my story I must wait in Bombay not merely for a fortnight but until the whole trial was completed, as in the end I had to do. Of course I hoped that the prosecution would break down. Of course I didn't intervene until it was absolutely necessary in the interests of justice that I should."
He spoke so calmly, there was so much reason in what he said, that Pettifer could not but be convinced.
"I see," he said. "I see. Yes. That's not to be disputed." He remained silent for a few moments. Then he shuffled his papers together and replaced them in the envelope. It seemed that his examination was over. Thresk rose from his chair.
"You have no more questions to ask me?" he inquired.
Pettifer came round the table and stood in front of Henry Thresk.
"Did you know Mrs. Ballantyne before you went to Chitipur?"
"Eight years before, in this neighbourhood. I spent a holiday close by. Her father and mother were then alive. I had not seen her since. I did not even know that she was in India and married until I was told so in Bombay."