“He took the brandy after Mr. Pomeroy put iodine on his finger?”
“He did.”
“You agree for the rest with the previous statement?”
“I do.”
“Thank you, Miss Darragh.”
Decima Moore came next. Decima looked badly shaken but she gave her evidence very clearly and firmly. The coroner stopped her when she came to the incident of the brandy. He had a curious trick of prefacing many of his questions with a slight moan, rather in the manner of a stage parson.
“N-n-n you say, Miss Moore, that the deceased swallowed some of the brandy.”
“Yes,” said Decima.
“N-n-now you are positive on that point?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. Thank you. What happened to the glass?”
“He knocked it out of my hand on to the floor.”
“Did you get the impression that he did this deliberately?”
“No. It seemed to be involuntary.”
“And was the glass broken?”
“Yes.” Decima paused. “At least—”
“N-n-n-yes?”
“It was broken, but I don’t remember whether that happened when it fell, or afterwards when the light went out. Everybody seemed to be treading on broken glass after the lights went out.”
The coroner consulted his notes.
“And for the rest, Miss Moore, do you agree with the account given by Mr. Parish, Mr. Cubitt and Miss Darragh?”
“Yes.”
“In every particular?”
Decima was now very white indeed. She said: “Everything they said is quite true, but there is one thing they didn’t notice.”
The coroner sighed.
“What is that, Miss Moore?” he asked.
“It was after I gave him the brandy. He gasped and I thought he spoke. I thought he said one word.”
“What was it?”
“ ‘Poisoned,’ ” said Decima.
A sort of rustling in the room seemed to turn the word into an echo.
The coroner added to his notes.
“You are sure of this?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Yes. And then?”
“He clenched his teeth very hard. I don’t think he spoke again.”
“Are you positive that it was Mr. Watchman’s own glass that you gave him?”
“Yes. He put it on the table when he went to the dart board. It was the only glass there. I poured a little into it from the bottle. The bottle was on the bar.”
“Had anyone but Mr. Watchman touched the glass before you gave him the brandy?”
Decima said: “I didn’t notice anyone touch it.”
“Quite so. Have you anything further to tell us? Anything that escaped the notice of the previous witnesses?”
“Nothing,” said Decima.
Her deposition was read to her, and, like Parish and Cubitt, she signed it.
Will Pomeroy took the oath with an air of truculence and suspicion, but his statement differed in no way from the others, and he added nothing material to the evidence. Mr. Robert Legge was the next to give evidence on the immediate circumstances surrounding Watchman’s death.
On his appearance there was a tightening of attention among the listeners. The light from a high window shone full on Legge. Cubitt looked at his white hair, the grooves and folds of his face, and the calluses on his hands. He wondered how old Legge was and why Watchman had baited him, and exactly what sort of background he had. It was impossible to place the fellow. His clothes were good; a bit antiquated as to cut perhaps, but good. He spoke like an educated man and moved like a labourer. As he faced the coroner he straightened up and held his arms at his side almost in the manner of a private soldier. His face was rather white and his fingers twitched, but he spoke with composure. He agreed that the account given by the previous witnesses was correct. The coroner clasped his hands on the table and gazed at them with an air of distaste.
“About this n-n-n-experiment with the darts, Mr. Legge,” he said. “When was it first suggested?”
“I believe on the night of Mr. Watchman’s arrival. I mentioned, I think, that I had done the trick and he said something to the effect that he wouldn’t care to try. I think he added that he might, after all, like to see me do it.” Legge moistened his lips. “Later on that evening, I did the trick in the public tap-room, and he said that if I beat him at Round-the-Clock he’d let me try it on him.”
“What,” asked the coroner, drearily, “is Round-the-Clock?”
“You play into each segment of the dart board, beginning at Number One. As soon as you miss a shot the next player has his turn. You have three darts, that is three chances to get a correct opening shot, but after that you carry on until you do miss. You have to finish with fifty.”
“You all played this game?”
Legge hesitated: “We were all in it except Miss Darragh. Miss Moore began. When she missed, Mr. Cubitt took the next turn; then I came.”
“Yes?”
“I didn’t miss.”
“You mean you n-n-ran out in one turn?”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Mr. Watchman said he believed he would trust me to do the hand trick.”
“And did you do it?”
“No. I was not anxious to do it and turned the conversation. Later, as I have said, I did it in the public room.”
“But the following night, last Friday, you attempted it on the deceased?”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell us how this came about?”
Legge clenched his fingers and stared at an enlargement of a past mayor of Illington.
“In much the same circumstances. I mean, we were all in the private bar. Mr. Watchman proposed another game of Round-the-Clock and said definitely that, if I beat him, I should try the trick with the hand. I did win and he at once insisted on the experiment.”
“Were you reluctant?”
“I — No. I have done the trick at least fifty times and I have only failed once before. On that occasion no harm was done. The dart grazed the third finger, but it was really nothing. I told Mr. Watchman of this incident, but he said he’d stick to his bargain, and I consented.”
“Go on, please, Mr. Legge.”
“He put his hand against the dart board with the fingers spread out as I suggested. There were two segments of the board showing between the fingers in each instance.” Legge paused and then said: “So you see it’s really easier than Round-the-Clock. Twice as easy.”
Legge stopped and the coroner waited.
“Yes?” he said to his blotting paper.
“I tried the darts, which were new ones, and then began. I put the first dart on the outside of the little finger and the next between the little and third fingers and the next between the third and middle.”
“It was the fourth dart, then, that miscarried?”
“Yes.”
“How do you account for that?”
“At first I thought he had moved his finger. I am still inclined to think so.”
The coroner stirred uneasily.
“Would you not be positive on this point if it was so? You must have looked fixedly at the fingers.‘’
“At the space between,” corrected Legge.
“I see.” Dr. Mordant looked at his notes.
“The previous statements,” he said, “mention that you had all taken a certain amount of a vintage brandy. Exactly how much brandy, Mr. Legge, did you take?”
“Two nips.”
“How large a quantity? Mr. William Pomeroy states that a bottle of Courvoisier ’87 was opened at Mr, Watchman’s request, and that the contents were served out to everyone but himself, Miss Darragh, and Miss Moore. That would mean a sixth of a bottle to each of the persons who took it?”
“Er — yes. Yes.”
“Had you finished your brandy when you threw the dart?”
“Yes.”
“Had you taken anything else previously?”
“A pint of beer,” said Legge unhappily.