Judge Mann also was dark under the eyes, as if his sleep had been poor. He was not busy with his pencil. His ignoring of Hunter's wry glance was perhaps a way of saying: She's your chicken. Callista, drooping and still-faced, was again partly hidden by Cecil Warner, who looked a little better this morning with a fresh shave. The flowers last night, the rather elaborate too-expensive dining out, the antique gallantry--very sweet of him, Edith thought, and in his idiom not at all strange. He had wanted of course to talk about Callista, but at dinner and later, after toiling upstairs to the studio for drinks and quiet, he had hardly been able to, seeming happier when Edith carried the conversation away to more impersonal regions. Edith twisted in her seat, winning a timid nod from Herb Chalmers, a calm glare from Victoria. Back of them was Jim Doherty, again with Father Bland. Jim did not acknowledge her glance either, but probably because he didn't see it, a man alone on an island and hurt, trying to interpret contradictory voices in the wind. Edith twitched her skirt back into place and settled herself to endure the first day of testimony. "Are your duties as housekeeper fairly general, Miss Welsh?" "Might say so. I do everything but heavy cleaning, we have a woman on Tuesdays for that. I cook, see to things." "You go away on vacations?" "Visit my sister in Maine two weeks every summer, two in the fall." "You did so this year?" "In June, not the fall. Because of the trouble, I thought I should stay, couldn't do less." "Were you in Shanesville on Friday, August 7th of this year?" "The 7th--oh, the picnic. Yes, I was." "No, limit your answers, _please_. I just want to verify your presence on certain dates. Were you at Shanesville all day Sunday and Monday, August 16th and 17th?" Arthritic claws clenched on her handbag. "Yes, I was." "At about 10:30 Monday morning, August 17th, who beside yourself was present, to your knowledge, at the Chalmers house or on the grounds?" "Just Herb, I mean Dr. Chalmers. I think Mrs. Chalmers'd gone to the supermarket in Shanesville, anyhow she wasn't home at 10:30." "Where exactly were you at that time?" "On the back porch fixing snap beans for lunch." "What part of the grounds could you see from that spot?" "Well, part of the lawn runs around the north side of the house, between it and the grove, and there's the vegetable garden in back." "Is there a path through the grove?" "Yes, from our house to Dohertys' place." "Will you describe that path, please?" "Just a footpath, tramped ground, pine needles." Maud Welsh swallowed. "Goes near a pond that's right about on the Dohertys' line." "From the back porch could you see the opening of that path?" "Yes." "Did you see Dr. Chalmers at 10:30 or thereabouts?" "Yes, he came out on the porch and we talked some. Weather mostly I guess. It was a scorcher, and real humid." "What did he do after your conversation?"