“You are mistaken there, I think, Miss Darlington,” said George, “for it is my recollection that Napoleon was the one who returned the bouquet to Lottie. I remember distinctly that he held it in his hand a long while, and that he kept pulling the flowers apart as if desirous to see how it was held together.”
“It is a settled fact,” said Captain Quitman, “that the one who returned that bouquet to Mrs. Demar is the one that deposited the poison on it; and if that person can be pointed out, we may be able to detect the poisoner.”
When the fact that Mrs. Demar was poisoned was first announced by Doctor Plaxico, the lady in the black domino (who had been expelled from Lottie’s room a short time before) uttered a loud, piercing scream, and ran rapidly toward her own state-room.
“What on earth does that mean?” exclaimed Captain Burk as the woman came dashing past him.
“I would risk my life on her being the poisoner,” said Scottie. “She has just now heard Doctor Plaxico say that Lottie would be dead in less than two hours. I was present when the announcement was made, and as soon as that woman heard it she uttered the scream and dashed away. It was not a scream of distress, but it was a shout of joy. She is the very wretch who deposited the poison in that bouquet, and it is my opinion that she is in love with Demar, and that she has murdered Lottie to get her out of the way.”
“That is the most plausible theory I have heard mentioned in connection with this horrible affair,” said Captain Burk, “for I cannot believe that such a charming woman as Mrs. Demar could have an enemy except such as are made by the green-eyed monster.”
Doctor Plaxico now came out of Lottie’s room looking unusually serious, and when a dozen anxious friends inquired all at once about the condition of the patient, he shook his head and in a voice choked with deep emotion, said:
“Dying!” and passed on.
As the doctor passed out the lady in the black domino was seen running as fast as she could from her own to Lottie’s room, holding a large phial of liquid in each hand.
“Stop, madame!” exclaimed Doctor Plaxico as he placed his back against the door of Lottie’s room; “you must not go in there.”