"Was Mr. Clyde in the habit of making such suicidal threats?"
"He had done so on several occasions."
"In the presence of witnesses?" the question is asked with strange gravity.
Maud looks at him with a grave wonder on her fair, proud face.
"No, of course not," she answers, a little annoyance in her clear tone.
"Then you cannot prove that the deceased made those threats against his own life?" the coroner asked in a troubled tone. It is very plain to him that she cannot see the cloud of distress and suspicion gathering around her.
"Cannot prove it!" she says, indignantly. "You have my word under oath."
"Other evidence would make it all the stronger," he replies, evasively.
The officer who has brought her goes forward and whispers something in the coroner's ear. He starts and looks at the girl fixedly a moment from head to foot, then proceeds with the examination.
"When you left your uncle's house last night, did you return to your trysting-place with your discarded lover?"