ur, though he must have been one accustomed to delicate
microscopic manipulation; for the edges under the lens showed slightly
rough, like the surface of a file on a small scale: not smooth and
polished, as a needle-maker would have left them. I said so to Hilda.

"You are quite right," she answered. "That is just what it shows. I feel
sure Sebastian made that groove himself. He could have bought grooved
needles, it is true, such as they sometimes use for retaining small
quantities of lymphs and medicines; but we had none in stock, and to
buy them would be to manufacture evidence against himself, in case of
detection. Besides, the rough, jagged edge would hold the material he
wished to inject all the better, while its saw-like points would tear
the flesh, imperceptibly, but minutely, and so serve his purpose."

"Which was?"

"Try the needle, and judge for yourself. I prefer you should find out.
You can tell me to-morrow."

"It was quick of you to detect it!" I cried, still turning the
suspicious object over. "The difference is so slight."

"Yes; but you tell me my eyes are as sharp as the needle. Besides, I had
reason to doubt; and Sebastian himself gave me the clue by selecting
his instrument with too great deliberation. He had put it there with
the rest, but it lay a little apart; and as he picked it up gingerly,
I began to doubt. When I saw the blue gleam, my doubt was at once
converted into certainty. Then his eyes, too, had the look which I know
means victory. Benign or baleful, it goes with his triumphs. I have seen
that look before, and when once it lurks scintillating in the luminous
depths of his gleaming eyeballs, I recognise at once that, whatever his
aim, he has succeeded in it."

"Still, Hilda, I am loth--"

She waved her hand impatiently. "Waste no time," she cried, in an
authoritative voice. "If you happen to let that needle rub carelessly
against the sleeve of your coat you may destroy the evidence. Take it
at once to your room, plunge it into a culture, and lock it up safe at
a proper temperature--where Sebastian cannot get at it--till the
consequences develop."

I did as she bid me. By this time, I was not wholly unprepared for the
result she anticipated. My belief in Sebastian had sunk to zero, and was
rapidly reaching a negative quantity.

At nine the next morning, I tested one drop of the culture under the
microscope. Clear and limpid to the naked eye, it was alive with small
objects of a