It was one of
those papers which, while they aid the cause of science, may also further
the dark processes of the poisoner, by showing him the forces he has to
encounter, and the weapons with which he may defend himself from their
power. It is needless to dwell here upon the contents of this letter--one
of a series on the same subject, or range of subjects. Valentine read it
with eager interest. For him it had a terrible importance in its relation
to the past and to the present.
"I let the book fall open, and it opened at that letter," he thought to
himself. "Will it open there a second time, I wonder?"
He repeated the experiment, and the book opened in the same place. Again;
and again the book opened as before. Again, many times, and the result
was still the same.
After this he examined the book, and found that it had been pressed open
at this page, as by a reader leaning on the opened volume. He examined it
still more closely, and found here and there on the page faint
indications of a pencil, which had under-scored certain lines, and the
marks of which had been as far as possible erased. The deduction to be
drawn from these small facts seemed only too clear to Valentine
Hawkehurst. By some one reader the pages had been deliberately and
carefully studied. Could he doubt that reader to have been the man in
whose possession he found the book, the man whom that very day he had
heard plainly denounced as a poisoner?
He drew out the previous volume, and in this a rapid search revealed to
him a second fact, significant as the last.
Pages:
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