"When I
called, he was taking his breakfast of arrowroot, which he complained
had a gritty taste, supposed by his wife to be due to the sugar. Now I
had provided myself with this bottle, and, during the absence of his
wife, I managed unobserved to convey a portion of the arrowroot that he
had left into it, and I should be greatly obliged if you would examine
it and tell me if this arrowroot contains anything that it should not."
He pushed the bottle across to Thorndyke, who carried it to the window,
and, extracting a small quantity of the contents with a glass rod,
examined the pasty mass with the aid of a lens; then, lifting the
bell-glass cover from the microscope, which stood on its table by the
window, he smeared a small quantity of the suspected matter on to a
glass slip, and placed it on the stage of the instrument.
"I observe a number of crystalline particles in this," he said, after a
brief inspection, "which have the appearance of arsenious acid."
"Ah!" ejaculated Mr. Barton, "just what I feared. But are you certain?"
"No," replied Thorndyke; "but the matter is easily tested.
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