“Here, against the storeroom wall.”

“With your knowledge of the ship and its partitions, do you think that a crime could be committed, a crime of the violent nature of this one, without making a great deal of noise and being heard in the storeroom?”

Violent opposition developing to this question, it was changed in form and broken up.  Eventually, Turner answered that the partitions were heavy and he thought it possible.

“Were the connecting doors between your room and Mr. Vail’s generally locked at night?”

“Yes.  Not always.”

“Were they locked on this particular night?”

“I don’t remember.”

“When did you see Mr. Vail last?”

“At midnight, or about that.  I—­I was not well.  He went with me to my room.”

“What were your relations with Mr. Vail?”

“We were old friends.”

“Did you hear any sound in Mr. Vail’s cabin that night?”

“None.  But, as I say, I was—­ill.  I might not have noticed.”

“Did you leave your cabin that night of August 11 or early morning of the 12th?”

“Not that I remember.”

“The steersman has testified to seeing you, without your coat, in the chart-room, at two o’clock.  Were you there?”

“I may have been—­I think not.”

“Why do you say you ’may have been—­I think not’?”

“I was ill.  The next day I was delirious.  I remember almost nothing of that time.”

“Did you know the woman Karen Hansen?”

“Only as a maid in my wife’s employ.”

“Did you hear the crash when Leslie broke down the door of the storeroom?”

“No.  I was in a sort of stupor.”

“Did you know the prisoner before you employed him on the Ella?”

“Yes; he had been in our employ several times.”

“What was his reputation—­I mean, as a ship’s officer?”

“Good.”

“Do you recall the night of the 31st of July?”

“Quite well.”

“Please tell what you know about it.”

“I had asked Mr. Singleton below to have a drink with me.  Captain Richardson came below and ordered him on deck.  They had words, and he knocked Singleton down.”

“Did you hear the mate threaten to ‘get’ the captain, then or later?”

“He may have made some such threat.”

“Is there a bell in your cabin connecting with the maids’ cabin off the chart-room?”

“No.  My bell rang in the room back of the galley, where Williams slept.  The boat was small, and I left my man at home.  Williams looked after me.”

“Where did the bell from Mr. Vail’s room ring?”

“In the maids’ room.  Mr. Vail’s room was designed for Mrs. Turner.  When we asked Mrs. Johns to go with us, Mrs. Turner gave Vail her room.  It was a question of baths.”

“Did you ring any bell during the night?”

“No.”