This finished the butler’s evidence, as Mr. Pollard wisely abstained from any re-examination.
He next proceeded to call the parlourmaid, Rebecca Rees.
A pretty, vain, pert-looking girl stepped into the box, and took hold of the Testament.
‘Take off your glove,’ said the clerk.
She did so with some difficulty, as the thing had about half a dozen buttons to unfasten. Then she was sworn and proceeded to tell her story.
In a shrill voice, which visibly irritated the judge, she went on, and described how she had gone to bed, how she awoke at midnight and heard a sound proceeding from below.
‘What was the nature of the sound?’ asked the counsel who was examining her.
‘It was a groan,’ was the reply, ‘like as if somebody was being hurt.’
The prisoner’s counsel here hurriedly turned over the pages of his brief till he came to a certain place, where he made a note in the margin.