after stating the case: The Court erred in excluding the question put to the plaintiff by ber counsel while testifying in ber own behalf. The competency of evidence is determined by the substance of the witness’ answer rather than by the form of the interrogatory. Sumner v. *233 Candler, 86 N. C., 71. Whether the plaintiff left her husband’s home of her own volition, or by reason of what the law will recognize as compulsion, is an inquiry that does not necessarily involve a transaction or communication with her husband which disqualifies her under Revisal, sec. 1631, formerly Code, sec. 590. She may have left for valid reasons not arising out of any dealing with her husband. It cannot be seen, on the face of the question, that the plaintiff was induced to leave only by what her husband may have said or done.
In Thompson v. Onley, 96 N. C., 9, this Court held to be competent a question substantially similar to this one. It is there suggested that the party objecting to it could by a preliminary examination have ascertained if the witness intended to refer to a personal transaction or communication with a party then deceased. We add that the Judge here could have called upon the counsel to state what he expected to prove and thus have elicited the required information, or he could have directed the jury to retire until it was learned what the witness would say, and in that way not prejudiced either side. Any one of the suggested methods of inquiry would be in accordance with approved practice. Sikes v. Parker, 95 N. C., 232; Fertilizer Co. v. Rippy, 123 N. C., 656.
This case is not like Davidson v. Bardin, 139 N. C., 1, and Stocks v. Cannon, 139 N. C., 60, cited by the defendant’s counsel, for in each of them it appeared from the very nature •of the question that it could not possibly be answered without speaking of a transaction or communication with the deceased. Nor is it like Peoples v. Maxwell, 64 N. C., 313; March v. Verble, 79 N. C., 19; Ducker v. Whitson, 112 N. C., 44, and cases of a similar kind which Avere cited by the plaintiff’s counsel; for there it was perfectly clear that no transaction or communication with the deceased was called for; but something very different from it was the object of the proof, such as sanity, insolvency, handwriting, and the like. The *234proposed evidence was relevant, as the statute provides that abandonment of the husband which is wilful and without just cause, and refusal to live with him, followed by separation continued to the time of his death, shall constitute a bar to the right of dower. That the plaintiff did not leave her husband’s home of her own volition, if she can establish the fact by competent proof, should certainly be considered by the jury upon the issue framed under that provision of the statute. What the witness will say, and whether she is qualified under Revisal, sec. 1631, to speak of all or any of the matters that may be within the full scope of the proposed inquiry, we do not know, and, therefore, we are now unable to decide as to the extent of her competency, and must leave the question with the presiding Judge to pass upon when the facts are all disclosed.
The question put to the witness Horton is rather indefinite in form, and we can only conjecture as to what was intended to be proved. If the husband made what turns out to be a false accusation against his wife, and one very degrading to her and which ought to have been humiliating to him, it perhaps might be competent and relevant as a circumstance showing the state of his temper and disposition towards her, or his animosity, to be considered by the jury in connection with the evidence introduced by the plaintiff that he had driven her from the yard. It might have a tendency to show why he did it and as to who was the aggressor in this most unfortunate affair. That his anger and resentment would be aroused, if he believed the truth of what “he had uttered against her, can hardly be denied; and if he did not believe it, he evinced an utter disregard for the duty of protection he had promised and that he owed to her, to say the least of it, which was likely to result in domestic infelicity and a marital breach sooner or later. In either view of such testimony it may be regarded as furnishing some evidence of the motive with which it is alleged he maltreated her, if it is not *235a circumstance to show that the version of their separation, as given by her witnesses, is the true one. The question is so generally and vaguely worded, though, that we cannot pass definitely upon its competency or relevancy.
We order a new trial, because the Court excluded the question propounded to the plaintiff herself.
New Trial.