'
'How could you see without a light?' asked Dr Chinston, sharply,
looking at her.
'There was a night light burning,' replied Kitty, pointing to the
fragments on the floor; 'and I could only guess it was M.
Vandeloup's portrait; but at all events,' she said, quickly, 'I sat
down in the chair over there and fell asleep.'
'You see, doctor, she had been to a ball and was tired,' interposed
Madame Midas; 'but go on, Kitty, I want to know why you say Selina
was poisoned.'
'I don't know how long I was asleep,' said Kitty, wetting her dry
lips with her tongue, 'but I was awoke by a noise at the window
there,' pointing towards the window, upon which both her listeners
turned towards it, 'and looking, I saw a hand coming out from behind
the curtain with a bottle in it; it held the bottle over the glass
on the table, and after pouring the contents in, then withdrew.'
'And why did you not cry out for assistance?' asked the doctor,
quickly.
'I couldn't,' she replied, 'I was so afraid that I fainted. I
recovered my senses, Selina had drank the poison, and when I got up
on my feet and went to the bed she was in convulsions; I woke
Madame, and that's all.'
'A strange story,' said Chinston, musingly, 'where is the glass?'
'It's broken, doctor,' replied Madame Midas; 'in getting out of bed
I knocked the table down, and both the night lamp and glass
smashed.
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