"'Mrs. Levison was that upset,' the girl went on, in answer to a question put to her by the coroner, 'that I thought she was going to be ill, and she says to me that women like Mrs. Aaron were worse than ---- as they would stick at nothing to get a new gown or a bit of jewellery. She also says to me----' "But at this point the coroner checked her flow of eloquence, as, of course, what the dead woman had said could not be admitted as evidence. But nevertheless the impression remained vividly upon the public that there had been a terrible quarrel between those two, and of course we all knew that young Mrs. Levison had been seen at the ball wearing those five diamond stars; we did not need the sworn testimony of several witnesses who were called and interrogated on that point. We knew that Rebecca Levison had worn the diamond stars at the ball, and that Police Inspector Blackshire found them on her dressing-table the morning after the murder. "Nor did she deny having worn them. At the inquest she renewed the statement which she had already made to the police. "'My brother-in-law, Reuben,' she said, 'was a great favourite with his mother, and when we were both of us ready dressed he went into Mrs. Levison's room to say good-night to her. He cajoled her into letting me wear the diamond stars that night. In fact he always could make her do anything he really wanted, and they parted the best of friends.' "'At what time did you go to the ball, Mrs. Levison?' the coroner asked. "'My brother-in-law,' she replied, 'went out to call a taxi at half-past nine, and he and I got into it the moment one drew up.' "'And Mr. Reuben Levison had been in to say good-night to his mother just before that?' "'Yes, about ten minutes before.' "'And he brought you the stars then,' the coroner insisted, 'and you put them on before he went out to call the taxi?' "For the fraction of a second Rebecca Levison hesitated, but I do not think that any one in the audience except myself noted that little fact. Then she said quite firmly: "'Yes, Mr. Reuben Levison told me that he had persuaded his mother to let me wear the stars, he handed them to me and I put them on.' "'And that was at half-past nine?' "Again Rebecca Levison hesitated, this time more markedly; her face was very pale and she passed her tongue once or twice across her lips before she gave answer. "'At about half-past nine,' she said, quite steadily. "'And about what time did you come home, Mrs. Levison?' the coroner asked her blandly. "'It must have been close on one o'clock,' she replied. 'The dance was a Cinderella, but we walked part of the way home.' "'What! in the rain?' "'It had ceased raining when we came out of the town hall.' "'Mr. Reuben Levison did not accompany you all the way?' "'He walked with me across the Park, then he put me into a taxicab, and I drove home alone. I had my latchkey.' "'But you failed to bolt the door after you when you returned. How was that?'