"Is your usual office hour at that time in the afternoon?"

"No."

"Then Mrs. Bennett knew that you were likely to be out at that hour?"

"Yes; she told my housekeeper that she had a bad attack of neuralgia,
and had called on the chance of finding me in."

"Where have you been during the past month, Doctor?"

"I left Washington that very afternoon on my way to Richmond."

"Just a moment," interposed Warren, and handed another slip to the
judge advocate, who read the question aloud. "Did Mrs. Bennett know you
expected to leave town?"

"She did. I told Mrs. Arnold in her presence that I expected to go away
at any moment, and did not know exactly when I would return."

"Continue your statement," directed Warren.

"I went to Richmond to see my brother. On my arrival there I found him
in one of the hospitals, dying." Boyd's keen eyes grew misty. "I stayed
with him to the end. I found my services needed in that unhappy city,
so remained; but just before the evacuation I went over to Petersburg
to assist in the field hospitals. I only returned to Washington this
morning."

"When did you first hear of the charges against Miss Newton?"

"When I reached my house this morning I found Doctor Ward there making
inquiries of Martha as to my whereabouts. We went into the office, and
Ward told me of Miss Newton's arrest and trial, finally mentioning his
suspicions that curari had been used. I sprang out of my chair, walked
over and pulled open the door of the cabinet. The bottle of curari was
empty. I also found on further search that one of my hypodermic
syringes and needles, which I keep in the top drawer of my table, were
missing."

"Did any one have access to your offices during your absence from the
city?"

"No. I locked both the doors and bolted the windows of those rooms
before I left that afternoon, and took the keys with me, knowing that I
might be away from home for some time."

"What did you do on discovering the curari was gone?"

"Doctor Ward and I agreed that Senator Warren should be sent for. On
his arrival we consulted together and decided that Mrs. Bennett must
have killed Captain Lloyd."

"That is all, Doctor," announced Warren. "Mr. Judge Advocate, take the
witness."

"Do you know any motive for Mrs. Bennett's crime?" inquired the judge
advocate.

"Fear, deadly fear."

"Do you know what inspired that fear?"

"No, sir; I do not."

"You are excused." And the doctor, bowing to the court and