Some old women
offered to attend to dressing the body and preparing it for burial,
notifying the clergyman, etc., so Panna was spared all the mournful
business details which demand attention from a crushed spirit at a
moment when it is so incapable of forming any sensible, practical
conclusions, and could therefore remain near the committee.
After the post-mortem examination was over, the members went to view
the scene of the deed. Panna followed, and was silently permitted to
do so by the beadle and the constable, while the throng of villagers
was kept back. A mist dimmed Panna's eyes, when she saw the place
where the crime was committed, but she bore up bravely and watched the
proceedings around her with the utmost attention.
The gentlemen entered the coach-house and, standing at the door, she
could hear the physician say that he thought he noticed blood-stains on
the floor. The examining magistrate sketched a slight plan of the
place in his note-book, and ordered Janos and the gardener, who were in
the vicinity, to be brought in by the beadle. They were required to
point out the places where they were standing at the time of the
misfortune, and to briefly relate in turn the details of the story,
during which the prosecuting attorney and the lawyer for the defense
made notes.
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