the
stomach of the unfortunate woman. The coroner's physician has found that
they show traces of morphine. Was the morphine in such quantities as to
be fatal? Without doubt. But equally without doubt analysis could not
discover and prove it in the face of one inconsistency. The usual test
which shows morphine poisoning failed in this case. The pupils of her
eyes were not symmetrically contracted. In fact they were normal.

"Now, the murderer must have known of this test. This clever criminal
also knew that to be successful in the use of this drug where others had
failed, the drug must be skilfully mixed with something else. In that
first box of capsules there were six. The druggist compounded them
correctly according to the prescription. But between the time when they
came into the house from the druggist's and the time when she took the
first capsule, that night, someone who had access to the house emptied
one capsule of its harmless contents and refilled it with a deadly dose
of morphine--a white powder which looks just like the powder already in
the capsules.

"Why, then, the normal pupils of the eyes? Simply because the criminal
put a little atropine, or belladonna, with the morphine. My tests show
absolutely the presence of atropine, Dr. Hanson," said Craig, bowing to
the physician.

"The best evidence, however, is yet to come. A second box of six
capsules, all intact, was discovered yesterday in the possession of
Henry Vandam. I have analysed the capsules. One contains no quinine at
all--it is all morphine and atropine. It is, without doubt, precisely
similar to the capsule which killed Mrs. Vandam. Another night or so,
and Henry Vandam would have died the same death."

The old man groaned. Two such exposures had shaken him. He looked from
one of us to another as if not knowing in whom he could trust. But
Kennedy hurried on to his next point.

"Who was it that gave the prescription to Mrs. Vandam originally? She is
dead and cannot tell. The others won't tell, for the person who gave her
that prescription was the person who later substituted the fatal capsule
in place of the harmless. The original prescription is here. I have been
able to discover from it nothing at all by examining the handwriting.
Nor does the texture of the paper indicate anything to me. But the
ink--ah, the ink.

"Most inks seem very similar, I suppose, but to a person who has made a
study of the chemical composition of ink they are very