“That’s it,” she said, “that’s exactly it. I thought Mr. Collander was in danger of being killed, and I thought he ought to have a pistol that was loaded and would shoot. That’s why I took it to Mr. Parks.”
The big attorney nodded in assent.
“Now, what made you think that the decedent was in danger of his life? You must have had some reason for it?”
“Well,” said the witness, “people were always coming to see Mr. Collander. I have often heard him in a quarrel with people who came in to see him. His study opens out on the porch; they sometimes came to the porch and knocked on the door.”
“They didn’t always knock on the door, did they?” inquired the attorney. “Sometimes they called him?”
The witness looked at the lawyer as though she did not precisely follow his question.
“Yes,” she said, “sometimes they called him.”
“And then they would be standing down on the ground,” continued the attorney. “The porch before the door is narrow; that would put them below Mr. Collander if he were standing in the door.”
“Yes, sir,” said the witness, “the ground is lower than the porch; anybody standing on the ground would be below Mr. Collander.”
Again the prosecuting attorney interrupted.