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Updated: May 31, 2025
"Did you see him take Mrs. Brewster's aconitine pills off the hall table?" Helen shifted her gaze to his face and then back to her ever restless hands. "No," she said. "I did not see him take the pills." Kent studied her in a silence which, to her, seemed never-ending. "I want the true answer to this question," he announced with meaning emphasis.
Oh," she stopped midway up the staircase and waited for the butler to overtake her, "Grimes, to whom did you give the aconitine on Sunday?" "I didn't give it to nobody, miss." The butler was a trifle short of breath; his years did not permit him to keep pace with the twins. "I was in a great hurry as the druggist kept me waiting, and I had to serve tea at once."
I did not wish him to be condemned, Maisie. I only hoped that he would leave the court discredited and ruined. I give you my word that my evidence would have saved him from the scaffold." Hilda was listening, with a set, white face. "Proceed!" said she, and held out the brandy once more. "I did not give the Admiral any more aconitine after I had taken over the case.
"At present, yes," admitted the detective cautiously. "All circumstantial evidence " "But it will hold in court " "Ah, will it?" questioned Kent. "There's one big flaw in your case, Ferguson; the poison used to kill Turnbull." "Aconitine?" "Exactly.
"Now, doctor," he began, and his manner gained in seriousness, "what, in your opinion, killed Jimmie Turnbull?" "The post-mortem examination proved that he had swallowed aconitine in sufficient quantity to cause death," Stone replied. "He undoubtedly died from the effects of that poison." "Is aconitine difficult to procure?" asked Kent. "It is often prescribed for fevers."
It was only after great pressure that I could persuade him to add an infinitesimal portion of aconitine to his prescriptions. The drug was a deadly one, he said, and the toxic dose was still to be determined. He could not push it in the case of a relative who trusted himself to his care. I tried to shake him in what I regarded as his absurd squeamishness but in vain. "But I had another resource.
"But the number's on it," put in Kent swiftly. "Come, Stone, call up the druggist, repeat the number to him, and ask if it calls for your aconitine prescription." Stone hesitated as if about to speak, then, reaching out his hand, he picked up the telephone and held a short conversation with the drug clerk of the Thompson Pharmacy. "That is the box which contained the aconitine pills for Mrs.
Lord Arthur was a good deal puzzled at the technical terms used in both books, and had begun to regret that he had not paid more attention to his classics at Oxford, when in the second volume of Erskine, he found a very interesting and complete account of the properties of aconitine, written in fairly clear English. It seemed to him to be exactly the poison he wanted.
I was sure, and am sure now, although there is no evidence but that which common sense, acting on circumstances, suggested, that the aconitine was conveyed to the deceased by means of the piece of cake which Lamson gave him, and being carefully placed in the interior of the raisin, would not operate until the skin had had time to digest, and he the opportunity of getting on his journey to Paris, whither he was bound that night, to await, no doubt, the news of the boy's illness and death.
"Slipped the poison in the glass of water you handed him," answered Ferguson promptly. "A nervy sleight-of-hand, but you'll swing for it." Rochester's smile was exasperating as he turned to Dr. Stone. "Judging from Stone's remarks about aconitine which I overheard," he interpolated. "I gather the doctor is tolerably familiar with the action of the drug. Does aconitine kill instantly, doctor?"
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