“That is so,” says Miss Prince.
“To resume—nothing would have been easier for Mr. Garlett than to go to your back premises, open the garden door, and go upstairs to view the damage done by the rain in the gutters?”
“It would have been quite easy for him to do so,” replies Miss Prince hesitatingly, “but to my mind it would have been a very strange thing for a gentleman to do—to come into a lady’s house without asking her leave, to go upstairs, and, if I may say so, poke about!”
A titter runs through the Court.
And then Sir Almeric observes suavely: “A strange thing to do, no doubt, but gentlemen, Miss Prince, have been known to do very strange things if they had certain objects in view.”
At that there is again “laughter in Court.”
“And now I ask you one last question: As far as you know, was Mr. Garlett aware that there was arsenic in your house?”
Miss Prince remains silent for what seems to her audience a very long time. Once or twice the judge glances down at her rather sharply, and then, just as he is about to ask her if she has understood the question put to her, she answers reluctantly, “Yes, I think Mr. Garlett was probably aware of that fact. He cut his finger very badly about two years ago, and came down to the Thatched Cottage to ask me to bind it up for him. I took him up to my medicine room, for of course I keep lint and bandages there. I remember——” and then Miss Prince stopped short.
“You remember, Miss Prince——?” says Sir Almeric encouragingly.
Miss Prince turns to the judge. “Am I compelled to answer, my lord, what it is that I remember?”