“This,” she declares, “is the paper used by Mrs. de Lara and Mr. D’Estrange all the time that I have been in Mrs. de Lara’s service.”
Asked again if she recognises the handwriting on the letter, she unhesitatingly declares it to resemble Lord Westray’s. Asked if she received a note from Mrs. de Lara, acquainting her with her sudden departure for London the night of the murder, she answers, “Yes!”
Cross-examined by Hector D’Estrange.
“Victoire Hester, are you not engaged to Charles Weston, and were you not dismissed by Mrs. de Lara?”
“No, sir,” she unblushingly replies. “I gave notice same as Charles did, because Mrs. de Lara behaved so improperly to me.”
“Victoire Hester, you say that Mrs. de Lara left a note for you on the night of the supposed murder of Lord Westray, informing you she had gone to London?”
“Yes,” is the reply.
“But was she not in the habit of frequently going up to town in the same way without leaving notes?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then how is it she should trouble to do what she had never done before, Victoire Hester?”