the prisoner that she was on oath, 'like any other witness.'
"When you knew that the boys were in the house, did you take any steps to inform the police that you knew where they could be found?" the prosecuting counsel continued.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I believe in the idea of live and let live.' "
"But you knew why these boys had been sent to the Institution?"
"Well, yes, more or less."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean I knew they were supposed to have done something wrong."
"Something so wrong that one of them, at least, was a potential danger to the community."
"I didn't know that. We were never told the reason—not any particular reason, I mean—why any boy was at the Institution."
"Even so, did you not believe it to be your duty, as a citizen, to inform the police as to the whereabouts of the boys?"
"No."
"Would you call yourself an anti-social person?"
"No. I'm unsociable, but I liked the boys."
"When you had made up your mind not to hand the boys over to the police, did you set about organizing their activities so as to benefit yourself and your relations?"
"No."
"You didn't help to exploit these boys for gain?"
"Certainly not. As I explained before (this had been during her statement to her counsel) I had no reason to want to make money, either with or without the help of the boys. I had plenty of money. The boys were amused at playing the poltergeist tricks, and it was such a change to see them laughing and happy."
"But when their laughter and happiness grew too dangerous, you battened them down in that cellar with frogs, newts and all kinds of slimy and disgusting creatures, and left them there in the dark and the wet to starve."
"I never did that! I swear it! This is all a mistake. I am not the person who ought to be accused."
"When did the boys become a nuisance?"
"Never. I did not find them a nuisance. I had very little to do with them. I was at the Institution most of the time they were at the house."
Counsel had led up to this point very well, Mrs. Bradley thought. The next part of the argument did not take her by surprise, but it seemed to flummox the prisoner. Pointing at her (one of the few histrionic or dramatic gestures he made during the trial) Counsel for the Prosecution said clearly :
"You were not at the house during most of the time that the boys were there?"
"No."
"You were still at the Institution?"
"Yes, certainly."
"Will you tell the court the amount of your salary at the Institution?"
"I—let me see—I think I was getting about a hundred and sixty."
"And your board and lodging, of course?"
"Yes, except during holiday periods."
"Quite so. When did you begin to receive your legacy?"
"About—on—let me think. It would have been—I think I had the first payment towards the end of February."
"Towards the end of the February?"
"Yes, I believe that's right."
"And the boys escaped from the Institution on January twenty-third, according to the records kept by the Warden."
"Yes, I suppose that would be right."
"It is right. We can call witnesses to prove it, if necessary. Now, tell me: did you know, when those boys escaped—that is to say, on January twenty-third—that your aunt was going to die and leave you all this money?"
"No! No, of course I didn't!"
So she did not, even now, perceive the trap, thought Mrs. Bradley.
"Well, then, I suggest that perhaps your financial position, at the time that these boys escaped and found their way to this house which your relatives had rented, was not quite as assured and as satisfactory as you would have the court to believe?"
"Yes, but—No, I know it wasn't, but, don't you see——"
"I am afraid we do see," responded the learned gentleman, with a satisfied smile. "We see that your protestations that you did not need to exploit the mischief-making powers of the boys for your own gain are not, in the light of your own evidence, either acceptable or true, and I forbear to enlarge upon the point, which is, I am convinced, perfectly comprehended by the jury, but it was a very odd coincidence indeed that these boys, with no help from you, should have managed to find their way, not only to your relatives, but into a house where their services could be utilized in such a gainful way to their employers."
"I know all that. I agree," said Bella Foxley desperately, "but I didn't kill the boys! I didn't shut them up! There