“But that she should not have gone to your house if there had been any possibility of obtaining entrance to a hotel, or if she had not been turned out of her father-in-law’s house?”
“Ay, yi! yes.”
“That is all. You can go.”
During the rest of that day and the two following days the experts for the prosecution had the stand. The innumerable questions asked by the district attorney, the technical details of the cross-examinations, the constant interruptions, and the minutiæ of the evidence emptied the court room after the first hour, and even Patience became bored, and fell to thinking of other things, not forgetting to pity those twelve puzzled little heads in the jury box.
The gist of the evidence was that there was enough morphine in Beverly Peele’s stomach to kill two men.
XV
“Our turn has come,” said Lansing to Patience on the morning after the expert testimony was concluded. “We are confident of success now.”
“But the facts are hideous, and they have painted me black.”
“Mr. Bourke scraped off a good deal, and he’ll have the rest off before he gets through. If he could only make that lying woman open her mouth! You’ve borne yourself splendidly. Keep in good condition for the witness stand. Are you frightened?”
“No,” she said, smiling at Bourke gratefully. “Not a bit.”