y, being recalled, repeated what Mrs. Macallan
had said to her on the day when that lady was first taken ill. She
had said (speaking to the nurse at six o'clock in the morning), "Mr.
Macallan came in about an hour since; he found me still sleepless, and
gave me my composing draught." This was at five o'clock in the morning,
while Christina Ormsay was asleep on the sofa. The nurse further swore
that she had looked at the bottle containing the composing mixture,
and had seen by the measuring marks on the bottle that a dose had been
poured out since the dose previously given, administered by herself.

On this occasion special interest was excited by the cross-examination.
The closing questions put to the under-housemaid and the nurse revealed
for the first time what the nature of the defense was to be.

Cross-examining the under-housemaid, the Dean of Faculty said:

"Did you ever notice when you were setting Mrs. Eustace Macallan's
room to rights whether the water left in the basin was of a blackish or
bluish color?" The witness answered, "I never noticed anything of the
sort."

The Dean of Faculty went on:

"Did you ever find under the pillow of the bed, or in any other hiding
place in Mrs. Macallan's room, any books or pamphlets telling of
remedies used for improving a bad complexion?" The witness answered,
"No."

The Dean of Faculty persisted:

"Did you ever hear Mrs. Macallan speak of arsenic, taken as a wash or
taken as a medicine, as a good thing to improve the complexion?" The
witness answered, "Never."

Similar questions were next put to the nurse, and were all answered by
this witness also in the negative.

Here, then, in spite of the negative answers, was the plan of the
defense made dimly visible for the first time to the jury and to the
audience. By way of preventing the possibility of a mistake in so
serious a matter, the Chief Judge (the Lord Justice Clerk) put this
plain question, when the witnesses had retired, to the Counsel for the
defense:

"The Court and the jury," said his lordship, "wish distinctly to
understand the object of your cross-examination of the housemaid and the
nurse. Is it the theory of the defense that Mrs. Eustace Macallan used
the arsenic which--her husband purchased for the purpose of improving
the defects of her complexion?"

The Dean of Faculty answered:

"That is what we say, my lord, and what we propose to prove as the
foundation of the defense. We cannot dispute t