Villa
Firenze."

What was this? A suspicion crept into her mind.

"Yes, yes, monsieur. I'm afraid it must have gone astray. Could you
possibly look it up and tell me over the telephone what the report was?
It is rather important...."

Gripping the receiver hard, she held her breath, straining her ears for
the reply. It followed without hesitation, distinct and clear:

"But certainly, mademoiselle, I can tell you. The needle contained,
_tout simplement_, what one calls in English the pure toxin of typhoid!"

"Toxin of typh...."

The words died in her throat, the receiver dropped clattering down.
For an instant she sat as though paralysed, her dry lips parted, her
eyes staring in front of her. Then with a sudden rush the horrible
truth swept upon her, overwhelming her utterly. Curiously enough, it
seemed as though she had always known it from the first. How could she
have shut her eyes to the facts? Incidents, motives, all suddenly
fitted together like parts of a puzzle moved into place. It was all
clear now; she saw the entire plan, so simple, so natural, so
diabolically clever--the unsuspecting old man being done to death by a
natural disease that was prevalent at the time, while every effort was
made to save him, all the world looking on--"see, just to show you
there's no deception"--"all open and above board"--only the one flaw
which she, by accident, had hit upon. Yes, she alone of all the
household had held the clue in her hand, and had not had the wit to use
it, to follow it up! Fool, fool, that she was! Yet, no--not quite
that. The first injections were iron and arsenic, just what they
pretended to be; only the last one was the pure toxin, renewing and
intensifying the disease beyond hope of salvation. Even if she had
known then, it would still have been too late to rescue Sir Charles....

But then, there was Roger! Was he, too, an intended victim? Was
another murder in progress?

She jumped to her feet, pushed open the door blindly, ready to fly up
the stairs and warn him of his danger, tell him all she knew. It was
no time to mince matters, she must act and act quickly. If they
persuaded him to submit to those injections of so-called anti-toxin....

"Oh--Chalmers!"

For the second time that day she ran bolt into the dignified person of
the butler, who was crossing on his way to the stairs. She pulled
herself up and spoke to him in a choking voice:

"Chalmers, for God's sake wake