Altogether the whole affair was wrapped in
mystery, as it could not even be told if a murder had been
committed, or if the deceased had died from natural causes. The only
chance of finding out the truth would be to have the stomach
analysed, and the cause of death ascertained; once that was done,
and the matter could be gone on with, or dropped, according to the
report of the analyst. If he said it was apoplexy, Kitty's story
would necessarily have to be discredited as an invention; but if, on
the other hand, the traces of poison were found, search would have
to be made for the murderer. Matters were at a deadlock, and
everyone waited impatiently for the report of the analyst. Suddenly,
however, a new interest was given to the case by the assertion that
a Ballarat doctor, called Gollipeck, who was a noted toxicologist,
had come down to Melbourne to assist at the analysis of the stomach,
and knew something which would throw light on the mysterious death.
Vandeloup saw the paragraph which gave this information, and it
disturbed him very much.
'Curse that book of Prevol's,' he said to himself, as he threw down
the paper: 'it will put them on the right track, and then--well,'
observed M. Vandeloup, sententiously, 'they say danger sharpens a
man's wits; it's lucky for me if it does.'
CHAPTER XIII
DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND
M. Vandeloup's rooms in Clarendon Street, East Melbourne, were very
luxuriously and artistically furnished, in perfect accordance with
the taste of their owner, but as the satiated despot is depicted by
the moralists as miserable amid all his splendour, so M.
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