"Well, when I couldn't find it I thought that must have been what had happened."
"In fact, you didn't really know what you'd done with it!" "Yes, I did. I put it in the case."
"Then why did you suggest on the morning of June 29th that you had left it at home?"
"Because I thought I might have."
"I put it to you that you're a very careless woman."
"That's not true."
"You make rather inaccurate statements sometimes, don't you?"
"No, I don't. I'm very careful what I say."
"Did you make a remark about a prick from a rose tree on July 27th - the day of Mary Gerrard's death?"
"I don't see what that's got to do with it!" The judge said, "Is that relevant, Sir Edwin?"
"Yes, my Lord, it is an essential part of the defence, and I intend to call witnesses to prove that that statement was a lie."
He resumed. "Do you still say you pricked your wrist on a rose tree on July 27th?"
"Yes, I did." Nurse Hopkins looked defiant. "When did you do that?"
"Just before leaving the lodge and coming up to the house on the morning of July 27th."
Sir Edwin said sceptically, "And what rose tree was this?" "A climbing one just outside the lodge, with pink flowers." "You're sure of that?" "I'm quite sure."
Sir Edwin paused and then asked, "You persist in saying the morphia was in the attache case when you came to Hunterbury on June 28th?"
"I do. I had it with me."
"Supposing that presently Nurse O'Brien goes into the box and swears that you said you had probably left it at home?"
"It was in my case. I'm sure of it."
Sir Edwin sighed. "You didn't feel at all uneasy about the disappearance of the morphia?"
"Not - uneasy - no."
"Oh, so you were quite at ease, notwithstanding the fact that a large quantity of a dangerous drug had disappeared?"
"I didn't think at the time anyone had taken it."
"I see. You just couldn't remember for the moment what you had done with it?"
"Not at all. It was in the case."
"Twenty half-grain tablets - that is, ten grains of morphia. Enough to kill several people, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"But you are not uneasy - and you don't even report the loss officially?"
"I thought it was all right."
"I put it to you that if the morphia had really disappeared the way it did you would have been bound, as a conscientious person, to report the loss officially."
Nurse Hopkins, very red in the face, said, "Well, I didn't."
"That was surely a piece of criminal carelessness on your part. You don't seem to take your responsibilities very seriously. Did you often mislay these dangerous drugs?"
"It never happened before."
It went on for some minutes. Nurse Hopkins, flustered, red in the face, contradicting herself - an easy prey to Sir Edwin's skill.
"Is it a fact that on Thursday, July 6th, the dead girl, Mary Gerrard, made a will?"
"She did."
"Why did she do that?"
"Because she thought it was the proper thing to do. And so it was."
"Are you sure it wasn't because she was depressed and uncertain about her future?"
"Nonsense."
"It showed, though, that the idea of death was present in her mind - that she was brooding on the subject."
"Not at all. She just thought it was the proper thing to do."
"Is this the will? Signed by Mary Gerrard, witnessed by Emily Biggs and Roger Wade, confectioners' assistants, and leaving everything of which she died possessed to Mary Riley, sister of Eliza Riley?"
"That's right."
It was handed to the jury.
"To your knowledge, had Mary Gerrard any property to leave?"
"Not then, she hadn't."
"But she was shortly going to have?"
"Yes?"
"Is it not a fact that a considerable sum of money - two thousand pounds - was being given to Mary by Miss Carlisle?"
"Yes."
"There was no compulsion on Miss Carlisle to do this? It was entirely a generous impulse on her part?"
"She did it of her own free will, yes."
"But surely, if she had hated Mary Gerrard, as is suggested, she would not of her own free will have handed over to her a large sum of money."
"That's as may be."
"What do you mean by that answer?"
"I don't mean anything."
"Exactly. Now, had you heard any local gossip about Mary Gerrard and Mr. Roderick Welman?"
"He was sweet on her."
"Have you any evidence of that?"
"I just knew it, that's all."
"Oh - you 'just knew it.' That's not very convincing to the jury, I'm afraid. Did you say on one occasion Mary would have nothing to do with him because he was engaged to Miss Elinor and she said the same to him in London?"
"That's what she told me."
Sir Samuel Attenbury re-examined: "When Mary Gerrard was discussing with you the wording of this will, did the accused look in through the window?"
"Yes, she did." "What did she say?"
"She said, 'So you're making your will, Mary. That's funny.' And she laughed. Laughed and laughed. And it's my opinion," said the witness viciously, "that it was at that moment the idea came into her head. The idea of making away with the girl! She'd murder in her heart that very minute."
The judge spoke sharply: "Confine yourself to answering the questions that are asked you. The last part of that answer is to be struck out."
Elinor thought, How queer. When anyone says what's true, they strike it out.
She wanted to laugh hysterically.
II
Nurse O'Brien was in the box.
"On the morning of June 29th did Nurse Hopkins make a statement to you?"
"Yes. She said she had a tube of morphine hydrochloride missing from her case."
"What did you do?"
"I helped her to hunt for it."
"But you could not find it?"
"No."
"To your knowledge, was the case left overnight in the hall?"
"It was."
"Mr. Welman and the accused were both staying in the house at the time of Mrs. Welman's death - that is, on June 28th to 29th?"
"Yes."
"Will you tell us of an incident that occurred on June 29th - the day after Mrs. Welman's death?"
"I saw Mr. Roderick Welman with Mary Gerrard. He was telling her he loved her, and he tried to kiss her."
"He was at the time engaged to the accused?"
"Yes."
"What happened next?"
"Mary told him to think shame of himself, and him engaged to Miss Elinor!"
"In your opinion, what was the feeling of the accused toward Mary Gerrard?"
"She hated her. She would look after her as though she'd like to destroy her."
Sir Edwin jumped up.
Elinor thought, Why do they wrangle about it? What does it matter?
Sir Edwin Bulmer cross-examined: "Is it not a fact that Nurse Hapkins said she thought she had left the morphia at home?"
"Well, you see, it was this way. After -"
"Kindly answer my question. Did she not say that she had probably left the morphia at home?"
"Yes."
"She was not really worried at the time about it?"
"No, not then."
"Because she thought she had left it at home. So naturally she was not uneasy."
"She couldn't imagine anyone taking it."
"Exactly. It wasn't till after Mary Gerrard's death from morphia that her imagination got to work."
The judge interrupted: "I think, Sir Edwin, that you have already been over that point with the former witness."
"As your Lordship pleases.
"Now, regarding the attitude of the accused to Mary Gerrard, there was no quarrel between them at any time?"
"No quarrel, no."
"Miss Carlisle was always quite pleasant to the girl?"
"Yes. 't was the way she looked at her."
"Yes - yes - yes. But we can't go by that sort of thing. You're Irish, I think?"
"I am that."
"And the Irish have rather a vivid imagination, haven't they?"
Nurse O'Brien cried excitedly, "Every word I've told you is the truth."
III
Mr. Abbott, the grocer, in the box. Flustered - unsure of himself (slightly thrilled, though, at his importance). His evidence was short. The purchase of two pots of fish paste. The accused had said, "There's a lot of food poisoning with fish paste." She had seemed excited and queer.
No cross-examination.
Chapter 23
Opening speech for the Defence: "Gentlemen of the jury, I might, if I like, submit to you that there is no case against the accused. The onus of proof is on the Prosecution, and so far, in my opinion - and, I have no doubt, yours - they have proved exactly nothing at all! The Prosecution avers that Elinor Carlisle, having obtained possession of morphine (which everyone else in the house had had equal opportunity of purloining, and as to which there exists considerable doubt whether it was ever in the house at all), proceeds to poison Mary Gerrard. Here the Prosecution has relied solely on opportunity. It has sought to prove motive, but I submit that that is just what it has not been able to do. For, members of the jury, there is no motive! The Prosecution has spoken of a broken engagement. I ask you - a broken engagement! If a broken engagement is a cause for murder, why are we not having murders committed every day? And this engagement, mark you, was not an affair of desperate passion, it was an engagement entered into mainly for family reasons. Miss Carlisle and Mr. Welman had grown up together; they had always been fond of each other, and gradually they drifted into a warmer attachment; but I intend to prove to you it was at best a very lukewarm affair."
(Oh, Roddy - Roddy. A lukewarm affair?)
"Moreover, this engagement was broken off, not by Mr. Welman - but by the prisoner. I submit to you that the engagement between Elinor Carlisle and Roderick Welman was entered into mainly to please old Mrs. Welman. When she died, both parties realized that their feelings were not strong enough to justify them in entering upon matrimony. They remained, however, good friends. Moreover, Elinor Carlisle, who had inherited her aunt's fortune, in the kindliness of her nature, was planning to settle a considerable sum of money on Mary Gerrard. And this is the girl she is accused of poisoning! The thing is farcical."
"The only thing that there is against Elinor Carlisle is the circumstances under which the poisoning took place."
"The Prosecution has said in effect:
"No one but Elinor Carlisle could have killed Mary Gerrard. Therefore they have had to search about for a possible motive. But, as I have said to you, they have been unable to find any motive, because there was none."
"Now, is it true that no one but Elinor Carlisle could have killed Mary Gerrard? No, it is not. There is the possibility that Mary Gerrard committed suicide. There is the possibility that someone tampered with the sandwiches while Elinor Carlisle was out of the house at the lodge. There is a third possibility. It is a fundamental law of evidence that if it can be shown that there is an alternative theory which is possible and consistent with the evidence, the accused must be acquitted. I propose to show you that there was another person who had not only an equal opportunity to poison Mary Gerrard, but who had a far better motive for doing so. I propose to call evidence to show you that there was another person who had access to the morphine, and who had a very good motive for killing Mary Gerrard, and I can show that that person had an equally good opportunity of doing so. I submit to you that no jury in the world will convict this woman of murder when there is no evidence against her except that of opportunity, and when it can be shown that there is not only evidence of opportunity against another person, but an overwhelming motive. I shall also call witnesses to prove that there has been deliberate perjury on the part of one of the witnesses for the Crown. But first I will call the prisoner, that she may tell you her own story, and that you may see for yourself how entirely unfounded the charges against her are."
She had taken the oath. She was answering Sir Edwin's questions in a low voice. The judge leaned forward. He told her to speak louder.
Sir Edwin was talking gently and encouragingly - all the questions to which she had rehearsed the answers.
"You were fond of Roderick Welman?"
"Very fond. He was like a brother to me - or a cousin. I always thought of him as a cousin."
The engagement ... drifted into it ... very pleasant to marry someone you had known all your life. ...
"Not, perhaps, what might be called a passionate affair?"
(Passionate? Oh, Roddy.)
"Well, no ... you see, we knew each other so well ..."
"After the death of Mrs. Welman, was there a slightly strained feeling between you?"
"Yes, there was." "How did you account for this?" "I think it was partly the money." "The money?"
"Yes. Roderick felt uncomfortable. He thought people might think he was marrying me for that."
"The engagement was not broken off on account of Mary Gerrard?"
"I did think Roderick was rather taken with her, but I didn't believe it was anything serious."
"Would you have been upset if it had been?"
"Oh, no. I should have thought it rather unsuitable, that is all."
"Now, Miss Carlisle. Did you or did you not take a tube of morphine from Nurse Hopkins's attache case on June 28th?"
"I did not."
"Have you at any time had morphine in your possession?"
"Never."
"Were you aware that your aunt had not made a will?"
"No. It came as a great surprise to me."
