The girl’s voice rang out in a high, sharp tone, and she clenched her slender hands until the knuckles showed through the white skin.
“We all have that determination, Miss Trowbridge,” said the coroner, a little stiffly, and after a few unimportant questions, Avice was dismissed.
Mrs. Black was called next. This time it was a case of diamond cut diamond. If the coroner was self-important, he was no more so than his witness. If he spoke with pomposity she answered with disdain, and if he was dictatorial she was arrogant.
“You are housekeeper here?” Berg began.
“That is my position, but I was also the fiancée of the late Mr. Trowbridge and should have been his wife next month, had he lived so long.”
“Confine your answers, please, to the questions asked.”
“Your question required two statements in reply.”
“You are a beneficiary under the will of Mr. Trowbridge?”
“I have not yet heard the will read.”
“Do you not know?”