It was after the first adjournment, and he came up with me in the street.
He was in a state of irritation, which I noticed with surprise, his usual behaviour when he condescended to converse being perfectly cool, with a trace of amused tolerance, as if the existence of his interlocutor had been a rather good joke.

"They caught me for that inquiry, you see," he began, and for a while enlarged complainingly upon the inconveniences of daily attendance in court.

"And goodness knows how long it will last.

Three days, I suppose." I heard him out in silence; in my then opinion it was a way as good as another of putting on side.
"What's the use of it?
It is the stupidest set-out you can imagine," he pursued hotly.

I remarked that there was no option.