"'And she helped you with the work?'
"'She did.'
"'Even with the heavy work?'
"'Yes.'
"'And she was strong, wasn't she? She could raise pieces of furniture, couldn't she?'
"But the old woman had seen the trap. She realises—as well as we all do—in spite of her apparent simplicity, that the Judge, if she replies to this question in the affirmative, will deduce that a person who can displace heavy furniture would have strength enough to strangle some one and drag a dead body about. Mariette quietly replied: 'My mistress did what she could, like anybody else.'
"M. de Valles nibbles his paper-cutter, raises his eyebrows, and sighs.
"His interrogatory now deals with the Vert-Logis, the Steinheils' villa at Bellevue, near Paris. 'Mme. Steinheil had many lovers,' he says. Maître Aubin rectifies: 'Many visitors you mean.'
"The President. 'Mme. Wolff, I want you to tell the jury whether you remember having heard Mme. Steinheil exclaim shortly after the murder: "At last, I am free!" You have admitted it during the inquiry.'
"'She was ill at the time and she certainly did not mean that she rejoiced at being a widow. Women say a lot of things when they are ill. She probably meant that she was glad her nurse had left the room, for she cared little for her.'