followed by a few ambiguous words out of which he could make
nothing. Had she said wretch? She did not remember. They must not
be influenced by anything she might have uttered in her first
grief. She was well-nigh insane at the time. But of one thing
they might be sure: her husband had not shot himself; he was too
much afraid of death for such an act. Besides, he was too happy.
Whatever folks might say he was too fond of his family to wish to
leave it.

Nor did the coroner or any other official succeed in eliciting
anything further from her. Even when she was asked, with cruel
insistence, how she explained the fact that the baby was found
lying on the floor instead of in its crib, her only answer was:
"His father was trying to soothe it. The child was crying
dreadfully, as you have heard from those who were kept awake by
him that night, and my husband was carrying him about when the
shot came which caused George to fall and overlay the baby in his
struggles."

"Carrying a baby about with a loaded pistol in his hand?" came
back in stern retort.

She had no answer for this. She admitted when informed that the
bullet extracted from her husband's body had been found to
correspond exactly with those remaining in the five chambers of
the pistol taken from his hand, that he was not only the owner of
this pistol but was in the habit of sleeping with it under his
pillow; but, beyond that, nothing; and this reticence, as well as
her manner which was cold and repellent, told against her.