“You are wrong, Doctor Lukens,” interrupted the stranger. “If the secret drawer contained a vital secret, Marchand would not have placed a murderous device there.
“Had some one died in this room, the old man could not have explained the matter except by disclosing a secret which he was most anxious to preserve.”
“That is true,” admitted the physician.
“MARCHAND’S death,” resumed the stranger, “was attributed to his forgetfulness. Marchand knew himself that he was forgetful, did he not?”
“He did.”
“Why, then, would he have been so foolish as to lay a snare for himself?”
“I see your point,” agreed Doctor Lukens. “Of course, Marchand must have been anxious to preserve the secret of this hidden drawer—”
“Of course,” interposed the stranger, “and the ingenious mechanical arrangement was sufficient in itself.
“No one would ever have suspected the existence of the drawer. Why the necessity of the poisoned needle?”
“But the needle was there! And the thimble, too!”