"He might have done it without your noticing it, I suppose?"
"If he was clever enough to murder the poor gentleman, he was clever enough to try and poison me."
The Judge: "The witness in her replies must confine herself to the evidence."
Mr. Spigot, Q. C.: "I must submit to your lordship that it is a very logical answer, and exactly illustrates the interdependence of the probabilities. Now, Mrs. Drabdump, let us know what happened when you awoke at half-past six the next morning."
Thereupon Mrs. Drabdump recapitulated the evidence (with new redundancies, but slight variations) given by her at the inquest. How she became alarmed—how she found the street-door locked by the big lock—how she roused Grodman, and got him to burst open the door—how they found the body—all this with which the public was already familiar ad nauseam was extorted from her afresh.
"Look at this key" (key passed to the witness). "Do you recognize it?"
"Yes; how did you get it? It's the key of my first-floor front. I am sure I left it sticking in the door."
"Did you know a Miss Dymond?"
"Yes, Mr. Mortlake's sweetheart. But I knew he would never marry her, poor thing." (Sensation.)
"Why not?"