"Were you actually in the house when the crime took place?"
"I was not." The patness of the cockney woman's answers warned Ronnie that she must have been coached in her part. It seemed to him, listening to her every carefully-pronounced syllable, that a purpose, a definite, a personal, and a premeditated purpose, underlay them.
"For how long before the fifth of July had you been living at Laburnum Grove?" went on Brunton.
"Two years."
"Had you known Mr. and Mrs. Towers for some considerable time?"
"I had. And Bob Fielding."
"Confine yourself to answering my questions, please. For how long had you know William Towers and his wife?"
"Eighteen months. Ever since they came to live at the Grove."
The K.C. paused, and looked warningly at the jury before putting his next question. "Then can you tell us, of your own knowledge, whether, during those eighteen months, the accused was on good terms with her husband?"
The woman--purposely as it appeared to Ronnie--hesitated; and Brunton, leaning forward, altered his formula. "Did they, as husband and wife, get on well with one another?"