“You have some things to remember him by, at all events,” Tarleton suggested. “Those leopard skins are very fine.”
“Ah, yes.” The sister brightened up again. “Everything he brought home he gave to me. It’s a wonderful collection, isn’t it? People tell me I ought to give it to the nation. I think I shall leave this house and its contents to trustees as a memorial, like Carlyle’s house in Cheyne Row, you know.”
We could only express approval of this pious intention. My chief now came to the object of our visit.
“Captain Armstrong did me the honour to come to me some time ago, after his return from Sumatra. He had heard of me as a student of poisons, and he brought me a sample of one he had discovered.”
“I know the one you mean, the toadstool that grows round the upas tree. Wasn’t that a wonderful discovery? I can tell you——” She checked herself rather sharply, and said no more.
“I persuaded him to sell me all he had brought to England,” the specialist remarked, without appearing to notice anything. “But it has occurred to me since that he might have kept a little as a specimen, and if that is so, and you are disposed to part with it, I shall be glad.”
Mrs. Baker eyed us with a touch of uneasiness, I thought.
“I know I can trust you, Sir Frederick; and if Dr. Castle is your assistant I suppose I can trust him too. Dear Edgar did leave me a little bottleful, but he told me not to part with it to anyone, and not even to let anyone know I had it.”
This was disconcerting news. I saw Tarleton’s thick eyebrows go up and down.
“That was very sound advice,” he responded quietly. “However, your brother trusted me, as I have said, and I hope you can do the same. I shall be very greatly obliged if you will let me see the bottle.”