subjects, as to the distribution, or rather investment,
of her property, as to the purchase of
such small quantities of wine as she might have
need of, or even on matters of a hygienic nature
—it being a subject—

The younger of the two judges on the bench
here interposed, and remarked that this evidence
was hardly relevant. Mr. Pry took the hint,
and brought his man back with all speed.

Mr. Pry. I will not trouble you just now,
Captain Scraper, to give us your views upon
diet, which, I have no doubt, are valuable
enough in themselves. What I wish to ask you
is, whether on any occasion you have heard the
deceased lady make allusion to anything
unpleasant in connexion with the relations which
existed between herself and the prisoner?

Witness. I really am unable at this moment
to recollect.

Mr. Pry. Perhaps you will try to tax your
memory a little more closely.

Witness. I believe I have heard Miss Carrington
remark that some of the household arrangements
in Beaumont-street were not quite to her
taste, and that when she had made objection to
these, it had led more than once to difference of
opinion. Indeed, now I think of it, I have heard
Miss Carrington say that when she had alluded,
in the presence of Mrs. Penmore, to some advice
which I myself had given to the deceased, it was
not well received.

Mr. Pry. Not well received, just so—a carping
spirit shown, no doubt?

Witness. No doubt. I am not able to say
with certainty, but no doubt. I am always very
cautious how I commit myself to anything which
I have not actually heard with my own ears,
having, in the course of my long experience of
military life—a life in which gossip and—

Mr. Pry, again admonished by the judge,
intimated to the captain at this point that the
court would not trouble him to relate his
military experiences, and was about to suggest his
withdrawal from the box, when Mr. Steel, for
the other side, stood up, and expressed his wish
to ask the witness a question before he left the
box.

Mr. Steel. Have you ever, Captain Scraper,
in the course of your friendly intercourse with
the late Miss Carrington, observed anything
remarkable about her—any tendency, for
instance, to great changeableness, at one time
being sleepy and heavy, and at another unusually
excited or irritable?

The captain stated without much circumlocution
that he had observed such changes of mood
in the course of his acquaintance, and that he
had even commented on it to intimate friends.

Miss Preedy, a resident, as it may perhaps be
remembered, in the same house with Captain
Scraper, fully corroborated the evidence given by
that gentleman, and also bore a similar testimony
to the strange variations in the late Miss
Carrington's bearing and demeanour at different
times. As the evidence was getting to be rather
strong on this particular point, this lady was
subjected to re-examination when her
cross-examination was over. She was re-examined by
Serjeant Probyn.

The Serjeant. You state that you have observed
a great variation of manner in your late friend on
certain occasions. Will you be good enough to
inform the court exactly what you mean by that
statement.

Witness. I hardly know. It is difficult to
explain what I mean.

The Serjeant. Are you quite sure that you
understand what you mean, yourself?

Witness. I don't know, I'm sure. I think my
meaning was that she was a little flighty and odd
sometimes. You couldn't depend upon always
finding her in the same mood. She would be
different at different times.

The Serjeant. And will you tell me, Miss
Preedy, standing in that solemn position in which
you are placed, that you ever knew any one who
was not different at different times? Really, my
lords, I must contend that this is but a desultory
and gossiping kind of evidence, and hardly
fit in a case of such awful importance to occupy
the time of the court or the attention of the
jury.

The court ruled, however, that it was legitimate
evidence, and that it should be taken for
what it was worth. The witness was then
permitted to stand down.

And now there remained but two more
witnesses to be examined to make the case for the
prosecution complete. The first of these was
the policeman who had been employed to search
the room occupied by the prisoner in the house
in Beaumont-street. He was placed in the box
immediately, and examined by the junior counsel
for the prosecution.

Mr. Pry. You were directed, I believe, to
search the premises in Beaumont-street, with a
view of ascertaining if there were any indications
of the poison called laudanum having recently
been in possession of the prisoner?

Witness. Yes, sir. Me and another constable
of the same division were told off for that duty.

Mr. Pry. Will you tell the jury what you
discovered?

Witness. Well, sir, for a long time we couldn't
find what we were in search of. We looked
through all the drawers, and in the cupboards,
and every place we could think of, till at last my
mate he caught sight of a box that was stowed
away under the bed, and pulling it out and finding
it locked, we had to make application for the
key, and that being handed over, and everything
taken out of the box—miscellaneous articles of
all kinds—we found at the bottom of everything
the bottle we were looking for.

Mr. Pry. The bottle produced just now in
court, and identified by the chemist who sold it
—Mr. Cook?

Witness. The same, sir.

Cross-examined by Mr. Steel.

Mr. Steel. Were you the constable who went