"The window looking into the court was open," said the witness, "although I had closed it on the previous night. I did not lock it, of course, as no one ever entered the court, and none of the windows of the ground-floor bedrooms were locked."
"Then the window could easily have been opened from the outside?" asked the Coroner, making notes.
"Oh, yes. It was not even snicked," replied the witness. "There was no necessity, as no one could enter the court save from the house, or by the door in the court wall."
It was proved very conclusively that the court door had not been opened since Madame had taken the house. Also, the door leading into the court from the building had rarely been opened.
"No one wanted to go into the court," explained Madame again, and insisted upon this point. "I left Lady Branwin quite cheerful, in bed, at about ten minutes to eight o'clock, and came up, to the still-room about five minutes to eight. My assistant, Zobeide, was in the room, and so was my husband, Mr. Vail. Also I believe that two other girls of mine, Badoura and Parizade, were behind the curtain of the room attending to some hair and skin washes. My husband drew my attention to this fact."
"Are you sure it was five minutes to eight when you were in the room?" was the Coroner's question.
"I am positive," was the emphatic reply. "Eddy--my husband--mentioned as he went out that it was five minutes after eight, and I had been talking to him for ten minutes, more or less."
The result of this statement was that Edmund Vail was called, and he proved that what his wife had asserted was correct. He mentioned (by talking with his fingers) to Zobeide, who was deaf, that it was five minutes to eight o'clock immediately before his wife entered. He talked to her of business--private business--for some time, and left the house by the side door ten minutes later. Zobeide--who gave evidence through an interpreter of the deaf and dumb language--corroborated this evidence, and it was well established that Madame Coralie had been with the two witnesses from five minutes to eight until five minutes past eight. This being the case, since Lady Branwin was murdered at eight o'clock, Madame Coralie could not be guilty of the crime, yet before this evidence had been given several people had hinted at her complicity; but what was said by Vail and Zobeide, and indeed afterwards by Badoura and Parizade, provided her with an alibi beyond question.
Madame Coralie was afterwards recalled and questioned about the diamonds. She denied all knowledge of these, saying that Lady Branwin brought in a red morocco bag with a label attached, of which she took the greatest care. "She did not mention to me what was in the bag," said Madame, emphatically; "but when I tucked her in for the night she placed it under her pillow. I never thought of asking any questions."
The witness also stated that she had never possessed any key to the court wall door, and did not recognise the one produced to the jury. The house door leading into the court was locked, and the key had been left, with others, on a nail in the still-room. "No one could have got into the court by that door on that night," stated Madame Coralie. "As to the remaining door, out of which my husband went when he left me, it is at the end of the long passage on the ground floor, and leads into a right-of-way which can be approached from Walpole Lane. I locked this myself after I had seen Miss Branwin at the street door, and took the key to my room. No one could have entered the house after that, as both this side door and the street door were locked when I and my assistants retired to bed."