_That_ affords very vague diagnosis, and leaves no
trace. That was the agent which enabled the Borgias to decimate Rome.
It is older than classic Greece, and simple as _a b c_, and will remain
so until the medical expert is a recognized officer of the law, the
faithful guardian of the bed over which the suspected poisoner
loiters--past-master of the science in which the murderer is rarely more
than an experimentalist, and protected from all the hazards of plain
speaking by the nature of his office."
"Great Heaven, how am I to save her?" exclaimed Valentine. He could not
contemplate the subject in its broad social aspect; he could only think
of this one dear life at stake. "To send this Dr. Jedd might be to hasten
her death; to send a less efficient man would be mere childishness. WHAT
shall I do?"
He looked despairingly at the surgeon, and in that one glance perceived
what a frail reed this was upon which he was leaning. And then, like
the sudden gleam of lightning, a name flashed across his mind,--George
Sheldon, the lawyer, the schemer, the man who of all the world best
knew this vile enemy and assassin against whom he was matched; he it
was of whom counsel should be asked in this crisis. Once perceiving
this, Valentine was prompt to act. It was the first flash of light in
the darkness.
"You mean to stand by me in this, don't you?" he asked Mr.
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