"Lead?"—Nigel leaned farther forward, moving his hands along the arms of his reclining chair—"lead-poisoning?"
"Yes."
"I've been—you say I've been poisoned?"
"Poisoned from day to day, gradually poisoned through a considerable period of time."
"Poisoned!"
Nigel repeated the word heavily, almost dully. For a moment he seemed dazed.
"If I had not arrived in time, you would have been killed, undoubtedly."
"Killed! But—but who, in the name of God, should want to kill me?"
Isaacson was silent.
"I say, who should want to kill me?" reiterated Nigel.