The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-02-01

came out of it. Miss Mary can tell
you the same, ma'am, if you please
to call her in"
l did call her in. MARY" I said,
81 am trying to ascertain in what
part of the house you all were that
day. during Nurse Gill's absence at
dinner. Your papa was in the gar
den; the servants were in the kitchen;
and you and little Jane, 1 believe,
were in the nursery?"
''Yes, Aunt Hester" she replied.
Miss Howard had been in a passion
with Jane at the mornings lessons,
and she ordered her into the nursery,
and sent her q piece of dry bread for
dinner [ thought it was q shame,
for it was only Miss Howard's temper
that was at fault; but it has been very
bad since she knew she must leave
and when papa rose from the dinner
table to so to mammals room, Alfred
ran of to school, and l went up in
the nursery to take Jane some cher
rlcs, leaving Miss Howard in the
dining room"
did you see nothing of Miss How
#ri after that, before the i.laIin?"
cob, yes. | went downstairs
almost directly forsome more cherries.
She was in the dinning-room, net
ting, and L remember she complained
OF Alfred, and said he was Il careless
boy, and had gone to school without
washing his hands I then went
back to the nursery, and STAYED there
till nurse and baby came up from
dinner
The nurse-maid. she means.
ma'am, interrupted Nurse Gill. ':She
left the kitchen when L did, and we
both came upstairs together. Baby
as they still call little John-had
dropped asleep over his dinner, and
she was going to lie him down. I
say he sleeps too much for Il child Of
three years old
"And when the nurse-maid went
up you went down." l remarked to
Mary. "NVhere was Miss Howard
them"
";Still netting in the dining-room.
Aunt Hester. she replied, ''and she
looked as if she had not stirred
from her seat Directly afterwards
mama's bell rang violently"
Il won't say as she had not stirred
from her seat, for I don't know no
thing about that broke in Mrs.
Gill, ''but I will say as she had not
left the room. for if she had we must
have heard her
odd You hear no one go up or
down-stairs?' / inquired
'Not . SOUL" replied the woman.
ss:lnI NO haI tba l-1to1,o,, H..
The house seemed as still as death.
If jhis dreadful thing had not hap
pened, ! could have been upon NV
oath that nobody had been near the
stairs.
''You heard Miss Mary, when she
came down for the cLerries?'
"Of course, ma'am, we heard her;
that was just as we were beginning
dinner. We heard her come out of
the nursery, run down the stairs, go
into the dining-room, stop there a
minute, run up again, and shut the
nursery door. You shut it with a
bang, Miss Mary; and I said to the
servants that mlssis had not had time
to get to sleep, or it might have woke
her"
You heard nothing, Mary?" 1
said to her.
Nothing at all, Aunt Hester. And
we were quiet in the nursery. Jane
was eating the cherries, and L was
reading"
"You see, ma'am, its complete
mystery" (" observed Nurse Gill.
1t did, indeed, seem to be so, and
|, Hester Halliwell, could not fathom
1t. The coroner's inquest made no
more of it than we did. Amongst
the witnesses examined was Miss
Howard. She deposed that she had
been in the dining-room the whole of
the time, shut in there, and had
heard nothing. The poison, sutfi-
cient of which remained in the glass
for its detection, proved to be the
same as that which Dr. Goring kept
IN his slrgery-and it is probable he
kept other poisons there also, as l
suppose medical men must do. /
recalled the day when [ overheard
Miss Howard ask what it was, and he
answered that it was a preparation of
strychnia, minute portion Of which,
taken IN water, would destroy life.
And L thought-but of what use to
recall what L thought, or still think i?
| often lose myself in its labyrinths
The verdict returned by The coron-
er's jury was: Oiled by poison; but