“No. Simply confine yourself to what you did.”
“Did? I did nothing whatever. I could no more have moved a step nearer to the door than if I had been nailed to the floor. She was crying dreadfully, in horrid little pants and gasps. It was absolutely sickening. Pat said, ‘Keep quiet, you little lunatic. Do you want——’ ”
“Mrs. Ives, the Court has already warned you that you are not able to tell us what was said.”
“Why am I not able to tell you what was said? I told you what we said downstairs.”
Judge Carver leaned toward her, his black sleeves flowing majestically over the edge of the rail. “No objection was raised as to that conversation. Mr. Farr objects to this and the Court sustains him. For your own sake, the Court requests you to conform promptly to its rulings.”
For a moment the two pairs of dark eyes met in an exchange of glances more eloquent than words; a look of grave warning and one of fearless rebellion.
“I do not understand your rules. What am I permitted to tell of the things that I am asked to explain?”
“Simply tell us what you did after you heard the voices in the room.”
“Very well; I will try again. I stood there for a moment, staring at the door to the day nursery. The key was on the outside so that the babies couldn’t lock themselves in. I don’t remember moving, but I must have moved, because suddenly I had the door knob in my hand. I jerked it toward me and slammed the door so hard that it nearly threw me off my feet. The key——”
“Yes, yes,” cut in Lambert, his face suffused with a sudden and terrifying premonition. “We needn’t go too much into all these details, you know. We want to stick to our story as closely as possible. You didn’t say anything, did you?”