d in a startled tone: "Strychnine! You don't mean
to say the poor man committed suicide with that horrible poison?"

Miss Pendarth looked up, and Janet was struck by her pallor and look of
pain. "Yes, Janet; he died of a big dose of strychnine, and the medical
evidence given at the inquest makes most painful reading."

"It _must_ have been a mistake on the part of the chemist. No sane man
would take strychnine in order to commit suicide. Besides, how could he
have got it?"

"There was strychnine in the house," said Miss Pendarth slowly. "When
Mrs. Crofton was in Egypt it was prescribed for her. You know how people
take it by the drop? A chemist out there seems to have given her a much
greater quantity than was needed, and in an ordinary, unlabelled medicine
bottle, too." The speaker waited a moment, then went on: "Though she
brought it back to England with her, she seems to have quite forgotten
that she had it. But _he_ must have known it was there, for after his
death the bottle was found in his dressing room."

"What a dreadful thing! And how painful it must have been for her!"

"Yes, I think she did go through a very dreadful time. But, Janet, what
impressed me most painfully, and what I am sure would much distress Miss
Crofton were I to tell her even only a part of what I heard, was the fact
that the husband and wife were on very bad terms. This was testified to,
and very strongly, by the only woman servant they had at the time of his
death."

"I never believe servants' evidence," observed Janet Tosswill drily.

"The Coroner, who I suppose naturally wished to spare Mrs. Crofton's
feelings, told the jury that it was plain that Colonel Crofton was a very
bad-tempered man. But the people with whom I was staying, and who drove
me over to look at the God-forsaken old house where the Croftons lived,
said that local feeling was very much against her. It was thought that
she really caused him to take his life by her neglect and unkindness."

"What a terrible idea!"

"I fear it's true. And now comes the question--ought I to tell his sister
this? Some of the gossip I heard was very unpleasant."

"Do you mean that there was another man?"

"Other men--rather than another man. She was always going up to London to
enjoy herself with the various men friends she had made during the War,
and the only guests they ever entertained were young men who were more or
less in love with her."

Janet smiled a little wryly. "There