"Did your husband treat you cruelly?"
"He neglected me and spoke harshly to me, but he never struck me."
"What were your feelings towards him?"
"I loved him when we married, for then he was kind and good. Afterwards I had no feeling towards him save one of terror."
"On one occasion it is reported that you came to meet a telegraph boy with a carving-knife. Is that true?"
"Perfectly true. But I did not know who was at the door. It was growing dark, and the house was very lonely. I took the knife in case it might be a tramp."
"Did you usually carry the knife to protect yourself?"
"Oh, no! On that occasion I was in the kitchen, and snatched it from the table when the knock came to the door."
"You never went to the door with it on any other occasion?"
"Certainly not. No one else ever came after dark. The tradespeople called always in the daytime. Then I was not afraid."