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upset. ‘There’s only one thing to do,’ he said: ‘we must turn out the lights and see whether the ring comes back.’ As nobody objected at the time, this was done. Nobody moved while the lights were out, and then, when they were switched on again, the ring was there. Then we all objected very strongly, since it left three of us under suspicion. Mrs Pomeroy lost her temper and accused Mrs Meadows of having hidden the ring as a practical joke. Her husband tried to calm her, but that only made her worse.
    He apologized to the rest of us and took her home. “We could hear her angry recrimination even when the front door had been shut.”
    The next witness called was Police Sergeant Steggles.
    â€œYou are station sergeant at Ealing?”
    â€œYes sir.”
    â€œDo you remember a charge being brought against the deceased woman, Stella Pomeroy?”
    â€œYes sir, a charge of shoplifting two years ago, but she was acquitted.”
    â€œWhat was the attitude of her husband on that occasion?”
    â€œHe was very angry with her, and at first he refused to go home with her; afterwards he calmed down, and they went away together.”
    The next witness was Margaret Close, who said that she was a charwoman employed by several householders. She was engaged by Mrs Pomeroy for two hours three times a week.
    â€œWere you ever present when there were quarrels between Mr Pomeroy and his wife?”
    â€œWas I not, sir! They was at it all the time, about one thing or another. I tell you that I was sorry for the poor man what he had to put up with. I didn’t wonder when he lost his temper as he did sometimes.”
    â€œCall Miles Pomeroy,” said the coroner.
    The court rustled with anticipation as Pomeroy walked to the witness stand. After giving an account of his movements on the fatal morning, he was questioned by the coroner about the incidents at the bridge party. He confirmed the account given by Mrs Trefusis.
    â€œWhen the ring disappeared from the ladies’ bridge table had you any suspicion against any of them?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI put it to you that after that charge of shoplifting of which your wife was acquitted, you did accuse her of having abstracted the ring when the lights were out and of having put it back when the lights were extinguished for the second time.”
    The witness hesitated.
    â€œSurely you can remember what you said to your wife on the way home.”
    â€œI may have said something like that.”
    â€œAnd she, very naturally, resented it.”
    â€œYes, but I said nothing more. I shut myself into my room.”
    â€œDid you continue your quarrel in the morning?”
    â€œNo. I got up early and made her a cup of tea and took it to her room.”
    â€œHow did she receive you?”
    â€œOh, quite in a friendly way. She seemed grateful. She told me she was not feeling very well and that she would not get up very early.”
    â€œYou had said something to the agent, Miss Lane, a week or two ago, about letting your bungalow, but you had not definitely put it into her hands.”
    â€œThat is so.”
    â€œAnd yet your wife was surprised to hear from Miss Lane a few days afterwards that you thought of leaving.” 
    â€œI had not discussed it with her.”
    â€œWhy was that? Surely she had as great an interest as you had.”
    â€œThe question was still in embryo. It depended upon my getting a transfer to one of our foreign branches.”
    â€œHad you applied for such a transfer?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWithout telling your wife?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œCan you explain this to the jury?”
    â€œIf I had succeeded in getting a job abroad I intended to propose to my wife that we should separate on terms as favourable as I could make them.”
    â€œWill you look at this hammer,” said the coroner, “and tell the jury whether you recognize it as belonging to