Nina Potter's entrance cut short speculation and the reporters watched her take her place in the witness chair with renewed hope. Her self-possessed air was a surprise to Ted Rodgers, who secretly considered her a bundle of nerves. She looked extremely pretty and Coroner Penfield watched her admiringly as the oath was being administered. From his seat on the second row, Ben Potter leaned against Rodgers, regardless of the latter's discomfort, in his endeavor to get an uninterrupted view of his wife. "Mrs. Potter," Coroner Penfield had again resumed his seat. "What relation are you to Miss Katrina Baird?" "No relation, except by marriage." Her voice, though low, held a carrying quality, and reached the ears of all in the room. "My husband is her second cousin." "Have you known her long?" "Since my marriage to her cousin, six months ago," briefly. "Did you know her aunt, Miss Susan Baird?" "Oh, yes, very well. We frequently took Sunday dinner with them." "Did you ever hear Miss Susan Baird express a dislike for any particular person?" Nina shook her head, while a faint smile drew down the corners of her pretty mouth. "Miss Susan disliked a great many people," she said. "Me, among them. In fact, I never heard her make a complimentary remark about any one." Penfield looked taken aback. "Miss Baird was eccentric, was she not?" "Yes, not to say odd." "Exactly what do you mean?" Nina raised her eyebrows and pursed up her mouth before answering. "If Miss Baird was calling upon friends and liked the tea cakes, she would open her bag and pour the cakes into it," she explained. "If she was shopping downtown and grew weary, she would look about and if she saw a motor car belonging to any of her friends waiting at the curb, she would inform the chauffeur he was to take her home. And--" Mrs. Potter's smile was most engaging, "Miss Baird always got her own way." "Until her death--" dryly. "It looked as if some one balked her there." "Yes--and who was that some one?" questioned Mrs. Potter sweetly. Coroner Penfield concealed his annoyance under a pretense of hunting for a pencil among the papers on his table. While listening intently to the dialogue between Penfield and Mrs. Potter, Ted Rodgers had grown aware that Ben Potter was gnawing his nails. Rodgers loathed small noises. He was about to remonstrate when Potter leaned back and whispered in his ear: "I always told you Nina was clever; bless her heart!" Rodgers attempted no reply as he waited for Coroner Penfield's next question. "Did Miss Kitty Baird spend Sunday night at your apartment, Mrs. Potter?" asked Penfield. "She did," with quiet emphasis. "She came in time to help me serve tea in my husband's studio, stayed to dinner, and retired early. We had breakfast at nine o'clock, after which she returned to Georgetown." "That is all, Mrs. Potter, thank you," and Penfield assisted her down the steps, then turned aside to speak to Hume. "Recall Oscar Jackson," he said.