_Attorney-General._ "I ask you, sir, as an attorney and a man of business, whether you cannot tell me whether you were applied to by William Palmer to attest a proposal for an assurance for £13,000 on the life of Walter Palmer?"
_Smith._ "I say that I do not recollect it. If I could see any document on the subject, I daresay I should remember it."
_Attorney-General._ "Do you remember getting a £5 note for attesting an assignment by Walter Palmer to his brother of such a policy?"
_Smith._ "Perhaps I might. I don't recollect positively."
_Attorney-General_ (handing a document to witness). "Is that your signature?"
_Attorney-General._ "Have you any doubt about it?"
_Smith_ (after considerable hesitation). "I have some doubt."
_Attorney-General._ "Read the document, and tell me, on your oath, whether it is your signature."
_Smith._ "I have some doubt whether it is mine."
_Attorney-General._ "Read the document, sir. Was it prepared in your office?"
_Attorney-General._ "I will have an answer from you on your oath one way or another. Isn't that your handwriting?"
_Smith._ "I believe that it is not my handwriting. I think that it is a very clever imitation of it."
_Attorney-General._ "Will you swear that it is not?"
_Smith._ "I will. I think that it is a very good imitation of my handwriting."
_Baron Alderson._ "Did you ever make such an attestation?"
_Attorney-General._ "Look at the other signature there, 'Walter Palmer,'--is that his signature?"
_Smith._ "I believe that is Walter Palmer's."
_Attorney-General._ "Look at the attestation and the words 'signed, sealed, and delivered'; are they in Mr. Pratt's handwriting?"
_Attorney-General._ "Did you receive that from Mr. Pratt?"
_Smith._ "Most likely I did; but I can't swear that I did. It might have been sent to William Palmer."
_Attorney-General._ "Did you receive it from William Palmer?"
_Smith._ "I don't know. Very likely I did."
_Attorney-General._ "Did William Palmer give you that document?"
_Attorney-General._ "If that be the document he gave you, and those are the signatures of Walter Palmer and of Pratt, is not the other signature yours?"
_Attorney-General._ "Don't 'Mr. Attorney' me, sir! Answer my question. Isn't that your handwriting?"