She
had noticed in the last day or two Lady Shillito fussing a good deal
about the sick man, pressing on him doses of a colourless medicine.
_What if she had stolen in while the nurse was asleep and placed a
finally fatal draught by the bedside?_ From that she proceeded to
argue (when she had leisure to think it out) that she _hadn't_ been
to sleep, had merely been resting her eyes. And she was now sure
that whilst she had closed those orbs she had heard--as indeed she
had, only it was Sir Grimthorpe himself--some one stealing into the
room.
She communicated her suspicions to the doctor. The latter knew his
patient had not died of anything he had prescribed, but concluded
that Lady Shillito, wishing to be through with the business, had
prepared a fulminating dose obtained elsewhere; and insisted on
autopsy with a colleague, to whom he more than hinted his
suspicions. Together they found the strychnine they were looking for--not
very much, but the proportion that was combined by Shillito
with less traceable drugs to make the death process more rapid--and
quite overlooked the signs of cancer in the liver.
The outcome was that Lady Shillito at the inquest found herself "in
a very unpleasant position" and was placed under arrest, and later
charged with the murder of her husband.
Believing herself guilty she summoned all her resolution to her aid,
admitted nothing, appealed to Michael Rossiter and others for
advice.
Pages:
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195