"Did she have her field glasses that day?"
"Didn't see them, Mr. Hunter. Just the bag."
"Are there bushes, scrubs, likely places for birds or nests, near the part of the grounds where you had that picnic?"
"Yes. Back of the lawn there's a flower garden, and beyond that a sort of half-wild area. Things planted there that more or less take care of themselves—ground-cover, perennials. Pair of catbirds nested there last summer, likely others."
"Are you familiar with the perennials in that wild spot?"
"With some of them." Maud Welsh cleared her throat and swallowed. "Day-lilies, myrtle—monkshood."
"You have seen monkshood growing there, with your own eyes?"
"Yes. Mrs. Chalmers pointed it out to me once, wondering if she ought to keep it, spite of the pretty flower it has. Yes, it grows there—I mean it did last August. Of course the police—"
"Yes, never mind that. On the afternoon of August 7th, did you see Callista go into that wild garden?"