"Well, sir, it might and it mightn't. 'Twas mostly about the will that Mr. Mainwaring was making; and as how them that got little was angry that they didn't get more, and them as got much was growling at not getting the whole."
"How did the servants gain any knowledge of this will?"
"That's more than I can say, sir, except as I knows the nature of some folks."
Upon further questioning, the witness stated that on the night of the murder, between the hours of two and three, she was aroused by a sound like the closing of an outside door, but on going to one of the basement windows to listen, she heard nothing further and concluded she had been mistaken.
"Did you see the coachman at that time?" she was asked.
"A few minutes later I looked out again and I see him gaping and grinning at the house and jabbering to himself like an idiot, and I was minded to send him about his business if he hadn't a-took himself off when he did."
"He was perfectly sober, was he not?"
"Sober for aught that I know; but, to my thinking, he's that daft that he's noways responsible for aught that he says."
"Were you up-stairs soon after the alarm was given?" asked the coroner, when she had told of hearing from the butler the news of the murder.
"Yes, sir; I went up as soon as ever I heard what had happened."