he bottle.' She
held up the bottle of the stomach medicine and showed it to me, broken
just below the neck. 'Go back to the bedroom,' she says, 'and see if you
can find an empty bottle; I don't want to waste the medicine if I can
help it.' There was only one empty bottle in the bedroom, a bottle on
the chimney-piece. I took it to her immediately. She gave me the broken
bottle; and while I poured the medicine into the bottle which I had
found in the bedroom, she opened the paper which covered the tonic I
had brought from the chemist. When I had done, and the two bottles were
together on the table--the bottle that I had filled, and the bottle that
I had brought front the chemist--I noticed that they were both of the
same size, and that both had a label pasted on them, marked 'Poison.' I
said to her, 'You must take care, ma'am, you don't make any mistake,
the two bottles are so exactly alike.' 'I can easily prevent that,' she
says, and dipped her pen in the ink, and copied the directions on the
broken bottle, on to the label of the bottle that I had just filled.
'There!' she said. 'Now I hope your mind's at ease?' She spoke
cheerfully, as if she was joking with me. And then she said, 'But
where's the measure-glass?' I went back to the bedroom to look for it,
and couldn't find it again. She changed all at once, upon that--she
became quite angry; and walked up and down in a fume, abusing me for my
stupidity. It was very unlike her. On all other occasions she was a
most considerate lady. I made allowances for her. She had been very much
upset earlier in the morning, when she had received a letter, which she
told me herself contained bad news. Yes; another person was present at
the time--the same woman that my mistress told you of. The woman looked
at the address on the letter, and seemed to know who it was from. I told
her a squint-eyed man had brought it to the house--and then she left
directly. I don't know where she went, or the address at which she
lives, or who the messenger was who brought the letter. As I have said,
I made allowances for the deceased lady. I went downstairs, without
answering, and got a tumbler and a tablespoon to serve instead of the
measure-glass. When I came back with the things, she was still walking
about in a temper. She took no notice of me. I left the room again
quietly, seeing she was not in a state to be spoken to. I saw nothing
more of her, until we were alarmed by hearing her scream. We found