Tedious, never-ending statements had to be taken down in writing; the same things were repeated over and over again, and were as often contradicted; men who might have said in five words all that they had to say, would not be constrained to say it in less than five thousand, and each one seemed to think, or pretended to seem to think, that all the outer world and the Government were leagued together to defraud the interest to which he himself was specially attached.

But this was not the worst of it.

There were points which were as clear as daylight; but Tudor could not declare them to be so, as by doing so he was sure to elicit a different opinion from Mr.Neverbend.
'I am not quite so clear on that point, Mr.Tudor,' he would say.
Alaric, till experience made him wise, would attempt to argue it.
'That is all very well, but I am not quite so sure of it.

We will reserve the point, if you please,' and so affairs went on darkly, no ray of light being permitted to shine in on the matter in dispute.
It was settled, however, before dinner, that they should both go down the Wheal Mary Jane on the following day.

Neverbend had done what he could to keep this crowning honour of the inquiry altogether in his own hands, but he had found that in this respect Tudor was much too much for him.
Immediately after dinner Alaric announced that he was going to spend the evening with a friend.
'A friend!' said Neverbend, somewhat startled; 'I did not know that you had any friends in Tavistock.' 'Not a great many; but it so happened that I did meet a man I know, this morning, and promised to go to him in the evening.