"I am
glad to see you."
He looked at Curran and nodded at the three inquiringly.
"Yes, sir," replied the clerk; "these are the parties."
"Then we will get down to business." He opened a door and entered an
inner room. "Will you come in?" he asked of Ashton-Kirk and Pendleton.
They followed him at once; and Curran, addressing the little
Irishwoman, said:
"Now, Mrs. Dwyer, this way, please."
She arose briskly and also entered the inner room. Stillman seated
himself at a desk and carefully perched his glasses upon his nose.
"I perhaps take more trouble than is customary in these cases," he
said to Ashton-Kirk. "It is usual to hear statements, I believe, only
when they are proffered as testimony at the inquest. But it seems to
me that the office should be carried on in a more thorough way.
Preparation, I think, is necessary to get at the facts."
Then he faced the woman who had taken a chair beside the desk.
"Your full name, please," said he.
"Honora Dwyer. I'm a widow with four children; I live at 71 Cormant
Street, an' me husban' has been dead these three years," declared she,
in a breath.
Stillman smiled.
"You don't believe in keeping anything back, Mrs. Dwyer, I can see
that," said he.
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