So it was clearly shown that Miss Marchurst
must have been alone in the room when the crime was committed. Now
to look into her past life--it was certainly not a very creditable
one. M. Vandeloup had sworn that she had been his mistress for over
a year, and had taken the poison manufactured by himself out of his
private desk. Regarding M. Vandeloup's motives in preparing such a
poison he could say nothing. Of course, he probably did it by way of
experiment to find out if this colonial grown hemlock possessed the
same poisonous qualities as it did in the old world. It was a
careless thing of him, however, to leave it in his desk, where it
could be obtained, for all such dangerous matters should be kept
under lock and key. To go back, however, to Miss Marchurst. It had
been proved by M. Vandeloup that she was his mistress, and that they
quarrelled. She produced this poison, and said she would kill
herself. M. Vandeloup persuaded her to abandon the idea, and she
subsequently left him, taking the poison with her. She then went on
the stage, and subsequently left it in order to live with Mrs
Villiers as her companion. All this time she still had the poison,
and in order to prevent her losing it she put half of it into
another bottle. Now this looked very suspicious, as, if she had not
intended to use it she certainly would never have taken such trouble
over preserving it.
Pages:
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382