was the
opinion of the three surgical experts called upon that point, but upon
cross-examination Silvia forced each of them to admit that it was
possible that a former tubercular condition had recurred. She also
forced the unwilling admission that so far as the fracture of the leg
was concerned the bones had knit perfectly. The most damaging testimony
was that of a neighbor woman, who had overheard Mrs. Bell exclaim to
herself on the very day of the poisoning, "I will force him to marry me
or I will kill him!"

Pressed on cross-examination as to what she saw as well as heard, she
related how she had passed Mrs. Bell's door, which was open, and had
seen Mrs. Bell with a document of some kind in one hand and a pen in the
other, and had heard her utter this exclamation. When asked why she
assumed that the statement must refer to Dr. Earl, she replied with some
feeling that no other man had been seen around the apartment since Mrs.
Bell moved in, the first of April.

A young woman, a clerk in Thompson's candy store in Boston, identified
Dr. Earl as the purchaser of a box of candied fruit a few days before
the poisoning. On cross-examination she said it was a box of identical
proportions with the one marked "Exhibit A." Silvia asked her if the
boxes from their store did not always bear the firm name on the lid and
she admitted that they did, and swore that the one purchased by Dr. Earl
had the firm name on the outside of the lid in gilt letters. Then Silvia
showed her the box which had contained the poisoned fruit and asked her
to state on oath whether or not that was the box in which she had sold
Dr. Earl the fruit and she declared that it was not. Then she asked her
if Dr. Earl had purchased any loose pieces of fruit, and she testified
that he had not.

Silvia produced a box and asked the witness if it were not from the
Thompson store. She answered that it was.

"Did not Dr. Earl also purchase a box of pecans at the time that he
bought the fruit and is not this the box in which the pecans were
packed?" Silvia continued.

The girl seemed to study for a few moments. "Yes, I do remember," she
said, "he did buy a box of pecans the same day he bought the candied
fruit and this box may have contained them, for it is from our store. I
want to add, though, that I had forgotten about the nuts when the
district attorney asked his questions here and when I was examined in
Boston."

"How did you happen to forget about the nut