‘Yes,’ said Decima.

‘N-n-n you are positive on that point?’

‘Yes.’

‘Yes. Thank you. What happened to the glass?’

‘He knocked it out of my hand on to the floor.’

‘Did you get the impression that he did this deliberately?’

‘No. It seemed to be involuntary.’

‘And was the glass broken?’

‘Yes.’ Decima paused. ‘At least—’

‘N-n-n—yes?’

‘It was broken, but I don’t remember whether that happened when it fell, or afterwards when the light went out. Everybody seemed to be treading on broken glass after the lights went out.’

The coroner consulted his notes.

‘And for the rest, Miss Moore, do you agree with the account given by Mr Parish, Mr Cubitt and Miss Darragh?’

‘Yes.’

‘In every particular?’

Decima was now very white indeed. She said, ‘Everything they said is quite true, but there is one thing they didn’t notice.’

The coroner sighed.

‘What is that, Miss Moore?’ he asked.

‘It was after I gave him the brandy. He gasped and I thought he spoke. I thought he said one word.’

‘What was it?’

‘Poisoned,’ said Decima.

And a sort of rustling in the room seemed to turn the word into an echo.

The coroner added to his notes.

‘You are sure of this?’ he asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Yes. And then?’

‘He clenched his teeth very hard. I don’t think he spoke again.’

‘Are you positive that it was Mr Watchman’s own glass that you gave him?’

‘Yes. He put it on the table when he went to the dart-board. It was the only glass there. I poured a little into it from the bottle. The bottle was on the bar.’

‘Had anyone but Mr Watchman touched the glass before you gave him the brandy?’

Decima said: ‘I didn’t notice anyone touch it.’

‘Quite so. Have you anything further to tell us? Anything that escaped the notice of the previous witnesses?’

‘Nothing,’ said Decima.

Her deposition was read to her, and, like Parish and Cubitt, she signed it.

Will Pomeroy took the oath with an air of truculence and suspicion, but his statement differed in no way from the others, and he added nothing material to the evidence. Mr Robert Legge was the next to give evidence on the immediate circumstances surrounding Watchman’s death.