"Midsummer madness. I must have been ready to go overboard for someone. It was chance we happened to meet, that May-day." _Handkerchief back in the sleeve, girl--let the palms stay wet, wouldn't look good to be wiping them._ "And things got out of control. So far as the affair is concerned, Mr. Warner, if there's any question of blame or responsibility, I'll take it. Nothing could have started if I hadn't allowed it. And Jimmy--well, I can't speak for him, but I know he didn't realize until much later how terribly important I'd let it become to me, for a while. He just slipped, but I went all the way over, head over heels, for a while, and nobody to blame but myself." (_Give me that look, won't you?--the Cecil Warner special. Tell me I'm doing all right._) "Then later when he did understand how I was making such a thing of it--well, poor Jimmy, he's not an unkind person and never would be, he was in a spot, I think. He couldn't bear to hurt Ann or me either, and couldn't do anything at all without hurting one of us. I don't know what he could possibly have done except what he did--break off the relation and let time take care of it." (_Did the jury see him go? I didn't. Here at the start of the day, that I know._) "Do I need to say any more about this, Mr. Warner?" "I don't think so. You're free to of course, if anything else occurs to you later. Do you want to get back to the Sunday evening now?" "Yes." _Mother's gone too, behind the Face--but that happened a long time ago. And Cousin Maud with the Plum Jam, I hope. What's the matter, you nice people--isn't the Monkshood Girl putting on a good show? Herb--shall I project the voice at you, Herb?_ "Where was I?" "You'd spoken of starting to tell Ann Doherty about it." "Yes. I tried to do it reasonably, but I think all I did was blurt one hint after another until she--understood. She did, I know--that is, she understood what had been happening. As I think I told Mr. Lamson, I didn't get as far as telling her I was pregnant. I got the other facts said, somehow or other, and she--said something that showed she understood, and then I was suddenly sick to my stomach." "She didn't appear angry?" "No, Mr. Warner. I believe--I believe what I said could have been taken to mean that the thing was completely ended. Of course I've no way of knowing if that's what she thought. She wasn't angry. And then my sickness, coming like that, confused everything else. I ran for the bathroom. I know Ann was sorry for me, trying to help. I was--call it hysterical. I yelled at her, couldn't stand the idea of her touching me while I was sick, only wanted her to go away. But she wouldn't, so I ran from her again, into my bedroom, and I locked the door." (_Help me now!_) "Yes, I know I locked the door." "That part is a perfectly clear memory, Callista? The physical act of turning the key or throwing the latch or whatever it was?"