James
Smith, which gave token that he was asleep--had slipped into an
empty room, next door to the Red Roam, and had waited there about
a quarter of an hour, when her mistress came out again with the
dagger in her hand--had followed her mistress again into the
hall, where she had put the dagger back into its place--had seen
her mistress turn into a side passage that led to my room--had
heard her knock at my door, and heard me answer and open it--had
hidden again in the porter's chair--had, after a while, seen me
and my mistress pass together into the passage that led to the
Red Room--had watched us both into the Red Room--and had then,
through fear of being discovered and murdered herself, if she
risked detection any longer, stolen back to her own room for the
rest of the night.
After deposing on oath to the truth of these atrocious
falsehoods, and declaring, in conclusion, that Mr. James Smith
had been murdered by my mistress, and that I was an accomplice,
the quadroon had further asserted, in order to show a motive for
the crime, that Mr. Meeke was my mistress's lover; that he had
been forbidden the house by her husband, and that he was found in
the house, and alone with her, on the evening of Mr. James
Smith's return. Here again there were some grains of truth
cunningly mixed up with a revolting lie, and they had their
effect in giving to the falsehood a look of probability.
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