Sentence:  Added to the argument was the fact that while she might have tasted the coffee if it had <WSD>been</WSD> still hot , she might even have drunk some of it , she would n't have taken enough to kill her , for she would have been warned by its taste . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  have the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)