"That's exactly what I mean, Mrs. Cartwright."
"Well, he'd known all along that Bill and I were engaged and that we intended getting married as soon as Bill graduated, so it couldn't have come as a surprise to him."
"I see. And during the early part of your marriage, you saw Mr. Kelsey alone quite often, Mrs. Cartwright. Isn't that so?"
"My husband had taken a job and he was sometimes rather busy at his office several nights a week, so he urged Cecil to visit me and take me out while he was working."
"And during this period, was Mr. Kelsey at any time objectionable?"
"Not at all," she replied. "Cecil was an almost daily visitor at our home. He was there practically every evening for dinner."
"Was your husband at any time suspicious of Mr. Kelsey's frequent visits?" "Cecil was a visitor on invitation only. Bill and he were very good friends. There was no reason, at the time, why they shouldn't be."
"Will you tell the jury just when Mr. Kelsey's true intentions were apparent?" She tore at the black lace handkerchief in her hands. "Bill had chartered a boat," she began in a low voice.
"Please speak so the jury can hear you," the little man said.
"It was about a year ago," she said, raising her voice. "My husband had chartered a boat. He wanted to sail to the Bahamas and he asked Cecil to go along. There were just the three of us. Both Bill and Cecil knew quite a bit about sailing and I knew something about it myself. We had divided the watches-" She stopped. "I knew it all along about Cecil!" she cried suddenly. “I couldn't help but know it!" She was leaning tensely forward, and for a moment had become completely oblivious of the courtroom, the jury, and the prodding little man. Then she looked wildly about her, like someone awakening from a bad dream. "Will you please tell us what happened on the cruise the three of you took?" he asked quietly, disregarding the interruption.
She dabbed at her eyes with the black lace handkerchief. "It was during my watch," she resumed, trying to keep the emotion she felt out of her voice. “I thought both Bill and Cecil were sleeping below, but suddenly Cecil was standing beside me at the wheel. He seemed strangely silent and I became frightened by his being there, by his tenseness, by his peculiar attitude. There was something threatening about him. It seemed so unlike Cecil. And then, before I could resist, he dragged me from the wheel..."
"Go on, Mrs. Cartwright," her counsel urged gently.
"He dragged me from the wheel and grasped me in his arms . . .” Her voice broke and she lowered her head.
Did he make any suggestions to you at the time, and demands, Mrs. Cartwright?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered, almost inaudibly.
"Lewd, obscene suggestions?" he asked.
"Yes," said Mrs. Cartwright.
Inside the car she felt safer from the dreary day. Cecil fell in beside her with a deep sigh and his wet coat brushed her hand. She pulled the window shade down to shut out the grey landscape and hugged her jacket more closely about her. "Cecil, I'm so tired!" she said.
He reached for her hand. "Poor little thing!" he said.
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