Those natures that are sanguinary towards beasts discover a natural propension to cruelty. After they had accustomed themselves at Rome to spectacles of the slaughter of animals, they proceeded to those of the slaughter of men the freer.—Montaigne.
One day in November Mr. Mole received a little note by the hand of a small boy, who said he had just come from Mr. Crowe’s. It was from Spriggs, and in these words:
“Dear Mr. Walter,—
“Do come here at once if you anyways can, for poor missus has just expired in agonies awful for to behold. I have done just as you told me, and I will only give them into your own hands for fear of mistakes. Do pray come soon. I am in such a fluster, though I have expected it for a week or more.
“Your affectionate friend,
“Janet Spriggs.”
The half pound or so of striated involuntary muscle which in Mr. Mole did duty for a heart was thrown into a state of agitation by this epistle. He must be off to Mr. Crowe’s residence at once.
Entering the house by a back door opening into an alley at the side of the residence, he was unobserved by any one except the servants. Janet soon told him the circumstances of her mistress’s death. How at eleven o’clock she had given her a composing pill, the only one in the box. These pills had been ordered by Dr. Stanforth, who had seen the patient the previous day. How, an hour after, no sleep having supervened, she had given a little brandy and water, and a few mushrooms, which had been sent in by Mr. Crowe from the fruiterer’s. How, soon after partaking of this food, her poor mistress had been seized with faintness and vertigo, had become suddenly pale and pulseless. That she had immediately called her master, who was in his study, and by his orders had sent the page to Dr. Stanforth, who was not at home. That meanwhile Mrs. Crowe had got rapidly worse, had vomited several times, and died with convulsions in great agony. How she had adroitly managed to drop her handkerchief on her mistress’s pillow, and so contrived to provide her lover with the materials for an analysis. How, moreover, she had reserved in another handkerchief the remains of the dish which formed the patient’s last meal. One thing that excited the girl’s curiosity was the fact that on the previous night she was certain there were two pills in the little box on the mantel; whereas, although none had been taken during the night, only one remained when, by her master’s order, she gave the morning dose. Had the box been upset? Had the parlour maid, who arranged the room in the morning and made the fire, disturbed the box? She declared she had not touched it when Mr. Mole examined her, and he believed the girl.
The death certificate was filled up by Dr. Stanforth as follows:
| Atrophic cirrhosis | two years two months. |
| Gastritis | one year three months. |
| Hæmatemesis | four days. |