"Oh, Mr. Thorpe, did you make the discovery?" exclaimed Carlotta. "How awful! I don't wonder you're upset. Yes, Kit, you go up to Gilbert's. There may be something you can do."
Shelby went away, and when he reached the studio the first one to greet him was Mr. Crane.
"Hello, Shelby, I'm glad you came. This is a bad business."
"Tell me all about it,—I know only the main fact,—of Gilbert's death."
"Yes, that's the main fact, and the next one in importance is that the boy was poisoned. It's not known whether he took the poison himself or whether——"
"But how? I mean, what are the circumstances?"
"Come on in,—the police are here and the doctor. Listen to them."
The two went into the familiar studio, the big room where Blair and his friends had so often forgathered with jests and laughter.
There were two doctors there and two or three men from the Police Department.
The Medical Examiner was talking.