Once more the housemaid took her place by the table and the coroner resumed the examination.
“You say that the last bottle of medicine came early in the afternoon. Can you tell us the exact time?”
“It was about a quarter to three. I remember that because when I took up the new bottle, I asked Mr. Monkhouse if he had had his medicine and he said that his brother, Mr. Amos Monkhouse, had given him a dose at two o’clock just before he left.”
“Did you open the fresh bottle?”
“I took off the paper wrapping and the cap but I didn’t take the cork out.”
“Was the old bottle empty then?”
“No; there was one dose left in it. That would be due at six o’clock.”
“Do you know what became of the old bottle?”
“Yes. When I had given him his last dose—that was out of the new bottle—I took the old bottle away and washed it at once.”
“Why did you wash the bottle?”