n the subject."
"Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before thewedding?"
"Yes."
"Was she in good spirits?"
"Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in ourfuture lives."
"Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of thewedding?"
"She was as bright as possible--at least until after theceremony."
"And did you observe any change in her then?"
"Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I hadever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incidenthowever, was too trivial to relate and can have no possiblebearing upon the case."
"Pray let us have it, for all that."
"Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towardsthe vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and itfell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but thegentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did notappear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her ofthe matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on ourway home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause."
"Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some ofthe general public were present, then?"
"Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church isopen."
"This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?"
"No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite acommon-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. Butreally I think that we are wandering rather far from the point."
"Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a lesscheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she doon re-entering her father's house?"
"I saw her in conversation with her maid."
"And who is her maid?"
"Alice is her name. She is an American and came from Californiawith her."
"A confidential servant?"
"A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowedher to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America theylook upon these things in a different way."
"How long did she speak to this Alice?"
"Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of."
"You did not overhear what they said?"
"Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She wasaccustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what shemeant."
"American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did yourwife do when she finished speaking to her maid?"
"She walked into the breakfast-room."
"On your arm?"
"No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that.Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rosehurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. Shenever came back."
"But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went toher room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on abonnet, and went out."