“Did anything occur then to excite your suspicions?” said the counsel, as the witness paused.
“Oh, sir, nothing as I could put into words,” cried Aunty. “There was a creepy sort of feeling, as went all over you, like as if it was a chill, cold and quiet, both at once. I felt it, but I didn’t say nothing till Mary the cook came slipping down-stairs in a fright. Then I took fright as well, for she was always subject to fainting fits was poor ’Manda, and the doctor had warned us. I dashed into the room, and there was the poor darling lying back with her mouth open, and her big blue eyes wide and staring, and oh! I’ll never forget that night as long as I live.”
The witness hid her face in her handkerchief. The feeling was perfectly spontaneous and natural, and it affected the audience as natural feeling always does.
“Compose yourself,” said the counsel soothingly. “Take your time; no one wishes to hurry you. What was the demeanour of the prisoner during the sad event?”
“I hadn’t no time to think of her,” said Aunty, sobbing. “She stood about, that’s all I know, while Mary called up the other servants, and we tried cold water, and everything I could think of. I can’t tell you either how long it was before I ran to my poor child, or how long it was before I saw that nothing was of any good. It felt like hours and hours. The prisoner stood about in the way of the maids, and never did nothing to help us. I think she asked me what was the matter, but I can’t swear to it. The only thing I can swear to was as I saw her stealing quietly out of the room when nobody was looking. I thought, perhaps, she was going to call some one. I never thought as she intended to run away.”
“And that was the last you saw of her? She did not wait to see Mr. Eastwood? She did not make any explanation, or offer any help?”
“Not a thing, sir, not a word, as I’m a living woman. She went right off like a ghost. Mary, the cook, saw her a-standing at the door in the moonlight, and she says——”
“May I ask if Mary, the cook, is to appear as a witness?” asked Mr. Ryder.
“Certainly, a most important witness. We will, therefore, wait for Mary’s own appearance to hear what she said.—In the meantime, I suppose, you perceived the opiate had been administered?”
“That wasn’t till some time after,” said Aunty, with a little confusion. “There was the glass on the bed as had rolled out of her poor dear hand, and a drop or two of black stuff on the coverlet.”