rom Simon
Crood, pompous and aloof in his new grandeur of chief magistrate, to
Spizey the bellman, equally pompous in his ancient livery, were already
open-mouthed with wonder at the new and startling development. But the
sudden advent of the young and pretty domestic, whose tears betrayed her
unwillingness to come forward, deepened the interest still further;
everybody leaned forward towards the centre of the court, intent on
hearing what the girl had to tell. She, however, paid no attention to
these manifestations of inquisitiveness; standing in the witness-box, a
tear-soaked handkerchief in her hands, half-sullen, half-resentful of
mouth and eye, she looked at nobody but the Coroner; her whole
expression was that of a defenceless animal, pinned in a corner and
watchful of its captor.

But this time it was not the Coroner who put questions to the witness.
There had been some whispering between him, Hawthwaite and Meeking, the
barrister who represented the police authorities, and it was Meeking who
turned to the girl and began to get her information from her by means
of bland, suavely-expressed, half-suggesting interrogatories. Winifred
Wilson; twenty years of age; housemaid at Dr. Wellesley's--been in the
doctor's employ about fourteen months.

"Did you give certain information to the police recently?" inquired
Meeking, going straight to his point as soon as these preliminaries were
over. "Information bearing on the matter now being inquired into?"

"Yes, sir," replied the witness in a low voice.

"Was it relating to something that you saw, in Dr. Wellesley's house, on
the evening on which Mr. Wallingford was found dead in the Mayor's
Parlour?"

"Yes, sir."

"What was it that you saw?"

The girl hesitated. Evidently on the verge of a fresh outburst of tears,
she compressed her nether lip, looking fixedly at the ledge of the
witness-box.

"Don't be afraid," said Meeking. "We only want the truth--tell that, and
you've nothing to be afraid of, nor to reproach yourself with. Now what
did you see?"

The girl's answer came in a whisper.

"I saw Dr. Wellesley!"

"You saw your master, Dr. Wellesley. Where did you see Dr. Wellesley?"

"On the hall staircase, sir."

"On the hall staircase. That, I suppose, is the main staircase of the
house? Very well. Now where were you?"

"Up on the top landing, sir."

"What were you doing there?"

"I'd just come out of my room, sir--I'd been getting dressed to go out."