"Did you attend the wedding?"
"I did." She was biting her words now, not chattering.
"In what month were they married?"
"July."
"When did you first meet the defendant, Callista Blake?"
"Guess it was August that year, 1951." Warner studied his shoes. "Well, I know it was, because C'lista was away in girls' camp while they went on a honeymoon, me with the house on my hands—" she clamped her mouth shut, glaring. Mann found it possible to be sorry for the woman. Warner's massive pauses were tough on any witness.
Warner said at last, mildly: "Thank you." The back row idiot briefly giggled. "Callista was not present at her mother's wedding?"
"Certainly wasn't."
"Why 'certainly,' Miss Welsh? She was eleven that year."
"Because you never knew when she'd throw a tantrum."