There was a glass with drink on the table; she was
alone with Mrs Villiers, her heart filled with jealous rage against
a woman she thinks is her rival. Her own room is a few steps away--
what, then, was easier for her than to go to her own room, obtain
the poison, and put it into the glass? The jury will remember in the
evidence of Mr Kilsip, the bottle was three-quarters empty, which
argued some of it had been used. All the evidence against Miss
Marchurst was purely circumstantial, for if she committed the crime,
no human eye beheld her doing so. But the presumption of her having
done so, in order to get rid of a successful rival, was very strong,
and the weight of evidence was dead against her. The jury would,
therefore, deliver their verdict in accordance with the facts laid
before them.
The jury retired, and the court was very much excited. Everyone was
quite certain that Kitty was guilty, but there was a strong feeling
against M. Vandeloup as having been in some measure the cause,
though indirectly, of the crime. But that young gentleman, in
accordance with his usual foresight, had left the court and gone
straight home, as he had no wish to face a crowd of sullen faces,
and perhaps worse. Madame Midas sat still in the court awaiting the
return of the jury, with the calm face of a marble sphinx. But,
though she suffered, no appearances of suffering were seen on her
serene face.
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