"
"Indeed; then we must needs fall back upon my original idea and painful
as it may be to you, the old servant must become the object of your
suspicion."
"I cannot believe him capable--"
"Come, come, Mr. Dale," interrupted the physician. "We must look at
things as men of the world. It is your duty to ascertain by whom this
poison has been administered, in order to protect yourself from the
attacks of your insidious destroyer. If you will follow my advice, you
will do this; if, on the other hand, you elect to shut your eyes to the
danger that assails you, I can only tell you that you will most
assuredly pay for your folly by the forfeit of your life."
"What am I to do?" asked Douglas.
"You say that your habits of life are almost rigid in their regularity.
You always breakfast in your own chambers; you always dine and take
your after-dinner coffee in the house of one particular friend. With
the exception of a biscuit and a glass of sherry taken sometimes at
your club, these two meals are all you take during the day. It is,
therefore, an indisputable fact, that poison has bee a administered at
one or other of these two meals. Your old butler serves one--the
servants of your friend prepare the other. Either in your own chambers,
or in your friend's house, you have a hidden foe. It is for you to find
out where that foe lurks."
"Not in her house," gasped Douglas, unconsciously betraying the depth
of his feeling and the sex of his friend; "not in hers.
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