Childermass shrugs in response to this onslaught. He knows it is better to let Norrell rant and rave than it is to interrupt. If you interrupt him in the middle of it, he will find some other way of going about doing so. That is not to say that he won't continue, even you have let his ranting run its course, however.

"I'm certain they will. And once the questions are asked, anyone is free to answer with the truth, sir. Which is to say that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And when I stepped in to aid in calling the fighting to an end, got a knock or two myself for my troubles. Have you ever known me to be getting into pub fights?" He raises an inquiring eyebrow at the other man. Norrell knows very well that he is not, after all. No matter what his hysterics might lead him to believe otherwise.