"How do you arrive at that deduction, Nick?"
"From the tiny tinge of fresh blood about one of the pinholes on the interior of the lining," explained Nick. "The stain must have come from the point of the pin, and when the pin was drawn out of the box, not when it was thrust into it. In the latter case the pin point would have been cleansed before passing through the lining, and the stain would have been on the outside rather than the inside."
"Surely."
"Then it at once became plain that Mary Barton, while sitting there, had thrust her hat pin through one of the previously made apertures, possibly aiming to discover in this way what the box contained, and in so doing she probably pricked the confined reptile."
"Ah, I see," nodded Chick. "All this strongly indicated that something might have been confined in the casket."
"Yes, certainly. Not thus learning what the box contained," continued Nick, "Mary Barton decided to open it. The moment she raised the lid the snake, probably angered by its wound and long confinement, instantly struck at her hand, snake-fashion, and buried its fangs in her wrist."
"Hence the tiny, red spot which you so quickly discovered."
"Precisely."
"Very shrewd of you, Nick."
"Greatly frightened, the girl probably fainted, and fell to the ground," added Nick, in conclusion of the deductions by which he had solved the remarkable mystery. "The snake instantly scurried away through the grass, and left no trail behind him. Before the girl could recover from her swoon, the deadly poison had done its work. The venom of some of these India snakes is horribly rapid in its action."