After the adjournment for luncheon, the first witness called was Lucy Hayman [...] cook to Mrs Peacock, Brinley-villa, Prior park-road. She said she knew the deceased as Elsie Adeline Wilkie. She saw her on the Friday about three weeks before the Bank Holiday, in July, 1891. Deceased used to meet witness for a walk or to the Mission-hall. Occasionally on Friday evenings she saw Wilkie at the hall with Arthur Coombs. She could not say what month in 1891 it was when she saw them together at the hall.
The deceased did not seem to trust anyone with her secrets; she was very bright until towards the last, and then she did not seem so cheerful.
The Coroner: Can you account for her lack of cheerfulness?
Witness: No, I cannot.
The Coroner. Did you notice her figure alter at all during the time you knew her?
Witness: No.
By Supt. Rutherford: In June she told me she thought she was enceinte. [pregnant]
Wells Journal, 12th October 1893.
It strikes me that telling your friend you might be pregnant is quite a big secret, so Elsie appeared to be entrusting her with a secret (unless you want to be cynical about it, and this was a way of Elsie trying to cement her belief that her relationship with Coombs was serious and going to last, whether she believed she was pregnant or not).
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