"
"And the glass?"
"I took the glass from my own pantry."
"Are you sure that there was nothing in the glass when you took the
salver to you master?"
"Quite sure, sir. I'm very particular about having all my glass bright
and clear--it's the under butler's duty to see to that, and it's my
duty to keep him up to his work. I should have seen in a moment if the
glass had been dull and smudgy at the bottom."
The water remaining in the carafe had been examined by the medical
witnesses, and had been declared by them to be perfectly pure. The
claret had been untouched. The poison could, therefore, have only been
introduced to the baronet's room in the glass; and the butler protested
that no one but himself and his assistant had access to the place in
which the glass had been kept.
How, then, could the baronet have been poisoned, except by his own
hand?
Reginald Eversleigh was one of the last witnesses examined. He told of
the interview between himself and his uncle, on the day preceding Sir
Oswald's death. He told of Lydia Graham's revelations--he told
everything calculated to bring disgrace upon the woman who sat, pale
and silent, confronting her fate.
She seemed unmoved by these scandalous revelations. She had passed
through such bitter agony within the last few days and nights, that it
seemed to her as if nothing could have power to move her more.
Pages:
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266