Sir Harold looks at his witness with his kindest, most benignant expression, as he asks in a soft tone, and yet one which is heard throughout all the Court:
“I take it that you were deeply attached to this man Guy Cheale—that you and he had some kind of an understanding?”
Her head drops, she whispers inaudibly: “Yes, I loved him dearly.”
The great advocate repeats, for the benefit of those who had not heard, the whispered words, “You loved him dearly. And so, without even waiting to ask your mistress’s permission, you left a note on the kitchen table, went to the village post office and drew out some money from the Savings Bank, and went straight off to London?”
Again there comes an almost inaudible “Yes.”
“And now, Mrs. Cheale, we come to a very important part of your evidence. You realize that you are on oath?”
This time she answers quite loud, “I do, sir.”
“I pass over quickly the fact that within twenty-four hours of your arrival you were married to this man, Guy Cheale, on what was practically his death bed. But even before the marriage he made to you a certain communication?”
She bends her head.
“Now tell his lordship and the jury in your own words what that communication was?”