The barrister well remembered the view of the case taken by the Bar mess.  Even the redoubtable Dobbie was afraid of the jury.  His face must have conveyed dubiety with respect to Hume’s last remark, for the other continued eagerly: 

“It is quite true.  Wait until I have concluded.  After the footman brought the whisky and soda to the library that night I took a small quantity, and pulled an easy-chair in front of the fire.  I was tired, having travelled all the preceding night and part of the day.  Hence the warmth and comfort soon sent me to sleep.  I have a hazy recollection of the man coming in to put some coal on the fire.  In a sub-conscious fashion I knew that it was not my cousin, but a servant.  I settled down a trifle more comfortably, and everything became a blank.  Then I thought I awoke.  I looked out through the windows, and, to my astonishment, it was broad daylight.  The trees, too, were covered with leaves, the sun was shining, and there was every evidence of a fine day in early summer.  In some indefinite way I realised that the library was no longer the room which I knew.  The furniture and carpets were different.  The books were old-fashioned.  A very handsome spinning-wheel stood near the open window.  There was no litter of newspapers or magazines.

“Before I could begin to piece together these curious discrepancies in the normal condition of things, I saw two men riding up the avenue, where the yew trees, by the way, were loftier and finer in every way than those really existing.  The horsemen were dressed in such strange fashion that, unfortunately, I paid little heed to their faces.  They wore frilled waistcoats, redingotes with huge lapels and turned-back cuffs, three-cornered hats, and gigantic boots.  They dismounted when close to the house.  One man held both horses; the other advanced.  I was just going to look him straight in the face when another figure appeared, coming from that side of the hall where the entrance is situated.  This was a gentleman in very elegant garments, hatless, with powdered queue, pink satin coat embroidered with lace, pink satin small-clothes, white silk stockings, and low shoes.  As he walked, a smart cane swung from his left wrist by a silk tassel, and he took a pinch of snuff from an ivory box.

“The two men met and seemed to have a heated argument, bitter and passionate on one side, studiously scornful on the other.  This was all in dumb show.  Not a word did I hear.  My amazed wits were fully taken up with noting their clothes, their postures, the trappings of the horses, the eighteenth century aspect of the library.  Strange, is it not, I did not look at their faces?”

Hume paused to gulp down the contents of his tumbler.  Brett said not a word, but sat intent, absorbed, wondering, with eyes fixed on the speaker.