“Did you then go on to the house, and did you sort through your aunt’s personal effects?”
“I did.”
“And after that?”
“I came down to the pantry and cut some sandwiches. I then went down to the Lodge and invited the District Nurse and Mary Gerrard to come up to the house.”
“Why did you do this?”
“I wished to save them a hot walk back to the village and back again to the Lodge.”
“It was, in fact, a natural and kindly action on your part. Did they accept the invitation?”
“Yes. They walked up to the house with me.”
“Where were the sandwiches you had cut?”
“I left them in the pantry on a plate.”
“Was the window open?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone could have got into the pantry while you were absent?”
“Certainly.”
“If anybody had observed you from outside while you were cutting the sandwiches, what would they have thought?”
“I suppose that I was preparing to have a picnic lunch.”
“They could not know, could they, that anyone was to share the lunch?”
“No. The idea of inviting the other two only came to me when I saw what a quantity of food I had.”
“So that if anyone had entered the house during your absence and placed morphine in one of those sandwiches, it would be you they were attempting to poison?”
“Well, yes, it would.”
“What happened when you had all arrived back at the house?”
“We went into the morning room. I fetched the sandwiches and handed them to the other two.”
“Did you drink anything with them?”
“I drank water. There was beer on a table; but Nurse Hopkins and Mary preferred tea. Nurse Hopkins went into the pantry and made it. She brought it in on a tray and Mary poured it out.”
“Did you have any?”
“No.”
“But Mary Gerrard and Nurse Hopkins both drank tea?”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
“Nurse Hopkins went and turned the gas ring off.”