“He entered between seven and eight. He left at about midnight. Now, meanwhile, whom else did you admit?”
“No one at all. From half past seven until midnight no one went in except Mr. Neuman.”
“Was not that a somewhat unusual circumstance?”
“Most extraordinary. Me and my husband spoke about it at the time.”
“You can swear positively on this score?”
“Yes, because we staid on the stoop the whole evening and not a soul could have passed us without our seeing.”
“Are there any other means of ingress to the house of which you have charge than the street door?”
“Yes, sir; the basement-door and the scuttle-door in the roof.”
“What was their condition on the night of the 12th of July?”
“What was their condition on the morning of the 13th?”
“At six o’clock when I opened the house they were still locked and bolted.”
“Meantime could they have been unlocked?”
“No, because I carried the keys in my pocket.”
“Now, what are the means of ingress to the flat occupied by Mr. Tikulski?”
“The door that opens from his private hall into the outer hall of the house.”
“Do you recognize this key?” handing to the witness the key that the officer had identified.
Here befell a pause, during which the jurymen shifted in their seats and the prosecutor consulted with his colleague. In a moment he resumed.
“Now, Mrs. Marshall, you have testified that the prisoner at the bar, Ernest Neuman, left the house, No.—East Fifty-first street, shortly before midnight on the 12th of July. Your memory on this point is entirely trustworthy?”
“Very well. Did you notice his movements after that?”
“Well, sir, he crossed over the street and stood on the sidewalk under a lamp-post looking up at the front of the house toward Mr. Tikulski’s windows, and then—”
“I couldn’t tell exactly, but maybe for the time it would take you to walk around the block.”
“Well, and then, as I was saying, he marched straight away toward the avenue.”
“Did you see any thing more of him that night?”
“In about a quarter of an hour, your honor, Mr. Neuman he comes back and stands leaning up against the railing across the way; and pretty soon crosses over and goes past us without speaking a word and enters the house, the door being open, and goes up the stairs.” My lawyer turned sharply to me. “Is this true?” he whispered. “No, it is entirely false,” I answered. But I did not care.