lf to the power of her weakness.

This extraordinary resolution of a female devotee put me in mind of the
immolating custom of her countrywomen, called the _suttee_. It was a
complete _ultima ratio_, and put all my remedial plans at fault in an
instant. Her extreme weakness, or her devoted resolution, prevented her
from speaking, and I sat by her bedside totally at a loss what to do,
whether to persevere in my attempt to get her to renounce her husband's
medicine and to conform to my prescriptions, or to leave her to the fate
she seemed to court. I put several more questions to her, but received
no other answer than a wave of the hand--a plain token of her wish that
I should leave her to the tender mercies of her husband. I had now no
alternative; and, rising, I bowed to her, and took my leave. I had some
difficulty in finding my way out of the house; but, after several
ineffectual turns through wrong passages, I reached the door through
which I had entered, and returned home.

The extraordinary scene I had witnessed engaged my attention during the
evening, but all my efforts at clearing up the mystery that enveloped
the proceedings of these individuals were met by difficulties which for
a time seemed insuperable. I sat cogitating and recogitating various
theories and probabilities, and had several times examined the iron
powder, which, for better observation, I had scattered on a sheet of
white paper that lay on my table. My intention was to test it, and I
waited the incoming of my assistant to aid me in my experiment. As I
looked at it at intervals between my trains of thought, I was struck
with a kind of glittering appearance it exhibited, and which was more
observable when it caught my eye obliquely and collaterally, during the
partial suspension of my perception by my cogitations. Roused by this
circumstance, I proceeded instantly to a more minute investigation; and
having, by means of a magnet, removed all the particles of iron, what
was my surprise to find a residuum of triturated glass--one of the most
searching and insidious poisons known in toxicology. Good God! what were
my thoughts and feelings when the first flash of this discovery flared
upon my mind--solving, in an instant, by the intensity of its painful
light, all my doubts, and realizing all my suspicions. Every
circumstance of this mysterious affair stood now revealed in clear
relief--a dark scheme of murder, more revolting in its features than
any r