I was followed by other detectives who had been present at the time
and who corroborated my statement as to the appearance of this
unhappy woman and the way the pistol had been tied to her arm. Then
the doctor who had acted under the coroner was called. After a long
and no doubt learned description of the bullet wound which had ended
the life of this unhappy lady, - a wound which he insisted, with a
marked display of learning, must have made that end instantaneous or
at least too immediate for her to move foot or hand after it, - he
was asked if the body showed any other mark of violence.
To this he replied
"There was a minute wound at the base of one of her fingers, the one
which is popularly called the wedding finger."
This statement made all the women present start with renewed interest;
nor was it altogether without point for the men, especially when the
doctor went on to say:
"The hands were entirely without rings. As Mrs. Jeffrey had been
married with a ring, I noticed their absence."
"Was this wound which you characterize as minute a recent one?"
"It had bled a little. It was an abrasion such as would be made if
the ring she usually wore there had been drawn off with a jerk.
That was the impression I received from its appearance. I do not
state that it was so made.
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