"Will you allow me to ask how it was that you obtained that particular medicine?" he asked. "Do you know what it involves?"
"Yes," said Hilda; "it is only too well known to me. The horror of this well-nigh killed me."
"How did you discover it--or how did you suspect it?"
Hilda answered, without a moment's hesitation:
"The suddenness of Lord Chetwynde's disease alarmed me. His valet wrote about his symptoms, and these terrified me still more. I hurried up to London and showed his report to a leading London physician. He looked shocked, asked me much about Lord Chetwynde's health, and gave me this medicine. I suspected from his manner what he feared, though he did not express his fear in words. In short, it seemed to me, from what he said, that this medicine was the _antidote to some poison_."
"You are right," said the doctor, solemnly; and then he remained silent for a long time.
"Do you suspect any one?" he asked at last.
Hilda sighed, and slowly said:
"Yes--I do."
"Who is the one?"