Black curly’s feet scraped as he shifted his position.
“Collect yourself, Mrs. Sproud. We’ll give you all the time you want. We know ladies are not used to talking in court. Did you not hear this young man talking to his friends?”
“I heard talking,” replied the witness, quite collected. “But I could not make out who they were. If I could have been sure it was him and friends, I wouldn’t have stayed hid. I’d have had no call to be scared.”
Rocklin was dazed, and his next question came in a voice still more changed and irritable.
“Did you see any one?”
“No one.”
“What did you hear them say?”
“They were all talking at once. I couldn’t be sure.”
“Why did you go to the hay-stack?”
“Because they said something about my hay-stack, and I wanted to find out, if I could.”