No, none whatsoever.
The inquest was then adjourned till next day, and there was great
excitement over the affair. If Kitty Marchurst's statement was true,
the deceased must have died from the administration of poison; but,
on the other hand, Dr Chinston asserted positively that there was no
trace of poison, and that the deceased had clearly died from
apoplexy. Public opinion was very much divided, some asserting that
Kitty's story was true, while others said she had got the idea from
'The Hidden Hand', and only told it in order to make herself
notorious. There were plenty of letters written to the papers on the
subject, each offering a new solution of the difficulty, but the
fact remained the same, that Kitty said the deceased had been
poisoned; the doctor that she had died of apoplexy. Calton was
considerably puzzled over the matter. Of course, there was no doubt
that the man who committed the murder had intended to poison Madame
Midas, but the fact that Selina stayed all night with her, had
resulted in the wrong person being killed. Madame Midas told Calton
the whole story of her life, and asserted positively that if the
poison was meant for her, Villiers must have administered it. This
was all very well, but the question then arose, was Villiers alive?
The police were once more set to work, and once more their search
resulted in nothing.
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