- p. 44: Don"t mock me--Added a period at end of sentence.
- p. 44: Lord Normantower, I owe you an explanation" which...--Deleted single quote mark after "explanation".
- p. 44: You contemplate being married--Added a question mark to end of sentence.
- p. 47: SIR. P. Oh, Miss Derwent!--Deleted period after "SIR".
- p. 47: ..._snuff--box_...--Changed dash to a hyphen.
- p. 48: As Mr. Selwyn"s friend--betray his confidence--Added a question mark to end of sentence.
- p. 48: ..._drops into sofa, the picture of desolation._--Added a closing parenthesis after "desolation."
- p. 48: I"m "all right."--Changed single closing quotation mark to double closing quotation mark.
- p. 49: Whom I could honor--whom I could even obey--Added an exclamation mark to end of sentence.
- p. 49: ...from morning nntil night...--Changed "nntil" to "until".
- p. 50: Don t I? I"ve got it.--Added an apostrophe between "Don" and "t".
- p. 50: I"ll go and make things up. _exit. R.U.D._)--Added left parenthesis before "_exit_"; changed period after "_exit_" to a comma.
- p. 50: (_turns up to_ Sir PETER)--Changed "Sir" from initial cap to small caps in html and all caps in text version.
- p. 51: TOM. How dare _you_ take that from Miss Selwyn?--Changed question mark to exclamation mark.
- p. 51: _Re-enter BEATRICE, L. after a pause, she has medicine bottle and wine-gla.s.s in her hand_)--Changed closing parenthesis to a period.
- p. 52: (_enter SIR PETER, R.I.D , leaving door ajar..._--Changed s.p.a.ce after "D" to a period.
- p. 52: (_goes towards L D., back of sofa_)--Changed s.p.a.ce after "L"
to a period.
- p. 53: (_BEATRICE gazes at him as if fascinated_--Added closing parenthesis after "_fascinated_".
- p. 53: I thought I heard a noise in the conservatory--Added a period at end of sentence.
- p. 53: (_goes into the conservatory R.C., disappears R.
re-enters..._--Inserted a comma after "R.".
- p. 54: ...and on the point of it"s consummation...--Changed "it"s"
to "its".
- p. 54: (_takes book gaain_)--Changed "gaain" to "again".
- p. 54: I suspect Miss Derwent--Added a period at end of sentence.
- p. 55: (_indicates bell pull, going owards it up R._)--Changed "_owards_" to "_towards_".
- p. 55: _comes down R.C._)--Added a left parenthesis before "_comes_".
- p. 55: ...KATE appears R.C ,...--Changed s.p.a.ce after "C" to a period.
- p. 55: (_PHIL goes down L. to L.C._)--Changed "PHIL" to "PHILIP".
- p. 55: (_sets down the gla.s.s_--Added closing parenthesis after "_gla.s.s_".
- p. 56: _Re-enter LORD NORMANTOWE, R.I.D._--Changed "NORMANTOWE" to "NORMANTOWER".
- p. 56: BEA. _I_ rang?--Changed question mark to an exclamation mark.
- p. 56: (_come down to C._)--Changed "_come_" to "_comes_".
- p. 56: (_retreating up L C._)--Changed s.p.a.ce after "L" to a period.
- p. 56: _PHILIP makes no movement..._--Added a left parenthesis before "PHILIP".
- p. 57: If she is innocent, why was she hiding here--Added a question mark at end of sentence.
- p. 57: Perhaps I can throw some light upon that matter--Added a period at end of sentence.
- p. 57: (_going up to C , KATE comes to him_)--Changed s.p.a.ce after "C" to a period.
- p. 57: SIR P I should think, fatally.--Added a period after "P".
- p. 57: SIR P For a very excellent reason.--Added a period after "P".
- p. 57: ...that to do so would be an admisson of...--Changed "admisson" to "admission".
The html version of this etext attempts to reproduce the layout of the printed text. However, some concessions have been made. For example, on pages 25, 34, and 39 of the printed text a single curly bracket around two or more lines is used to indicate simultaneous action or dialogue. It is possible to reproduce this in html using tables, but html tables may not transfer well to the Project Gutenberg files generated from the html file. Thus, the use of html tables was avoided.
This play was inspired by the 1889 trial of Florence Maybrick, who was convicted of poisoning her husband with a.r.s.enic. A brief description can be found in William R. Cullen, _Is a.r.s.enic an Aphrodisiac? The Sociochemistry of an Element_ (Cambridge, U.K.: Royal Society of Chemistry, 2008), pp. 179-180, 183-185. A preview of this book is available through Google Scholar. See also Edgar l.u.s.tgarten, _Verdict in Dispute_ (London: Allan Wingate, 1949), which is posted by the Internet Archive at:
archive.org/details/verdictindispute00l.u.s.tuoft