The dog seemed to understand perfectly, and so they set off up the path.
Chapter 33. Arsenic
They had not gone a hundred feet when Marvin thought he heard a bar of sacred music floating out of space. It was a man’s voice, and the words were faint, but they sounded like “joy of heaven to earth come down.” And they seemed to lead his eye up the hill to a point where the path entered a glade in the cedars. He could see a spot of yellow there, as if buttercups made a patch of orpiment.
Fixing his eyes on the gold he presently saw a slender form emerge from the cedars. He did not need to be told who it was—that slow step, that silvery halo beneath the old straw hat.
The dog silently sprang forward, and Marvin gave chase. The hill was steep, and the chemist arrived with just enough breath for four words: “Good morning. Dr. Rich.”
“Good morning, sir. Sit down and rest. Your heart is not so strong as it ought to be at your age.”
Marvin threw himself down, and the old man set down his basket of vegetables, beside which Agricola at once went on guard.
“You look as if the enemy had made you a gift.”
“Only this,” panted Marvin, showing his gloved hand.
“But gift,” smiled Dr. Rich, “has a special sense in German. It means love-gift, hence love-potion, hence poison. Were you not gassed?”