"Did he mean to marry her?"

"No."

"He being a single man, and she being a single woman, at the time? And
both in Scotland?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Now tell me the circumstances."

Geoffrey hesitated. The art of stating circumstances implies the
cultivation of a very rare gift--the gift of arranging ideas. No one
was better acquainted with this truth than Sir Patrick. He was purposely
puzzling Geoffrey at starting, under the firm conviction that his
client had something to conceal from him. The one process that could be
depended on for extracting the truth, under those circumstances, was
the process of interrogation. If Geoffrey was submitted to it, at the
outset, his cunning might take the alarm. Sir Patrick's object was
to make the man himself invite interrogation. Geoffrey invited it
forthwith, by attempting to state the circumstances, and by involving
them in the usual confusion. Sir Patrick waited until he had thoroughly
lost the thread of his narrative--and then played for the winning trick.

"Would it be easier to you if I asked a few questions?" he inquired,
innocently.

"Much easier."

"I am quite at your service. Suppose we clear the ground to begin with?