“Horrible though it may seem,” she said, “they were used to cast lots as to who should actually administer the poison, being shuffled and dealt face downwards. There were fifty, only two of which were marked. It was, I have learnt, the mode in which the Anarchists of Zurich cast lots, the person receiving the one with the line to commit the crime, while whoever received the circle became the accomplice and protector. With grim disregard for consequences these very cards were afterwards used by the assassins and their victims to decide upon partners for whist, sometimes being placed beneath the plates at dinner when, on entering the room, the guests were allowed to choose their places, afterwards turning up their cards. This gave rise sometimes to great amusement. What would the unfortunate pair have thought could they have known the truth? Alas! I did not know it until too late, or I would have given them warning, regardless of the consequences.”
Boyd briefly explained how he had seen Blain throw something into the lake in St. James’s Park, whereupon Eva suggested that the object he thus got rid of was no doubt one of the poisoned coins with which Hartmann had supplied him at his request.
I referred to the incident of the telephone, and Eva explained how she had since discovered that Blain had made an inquiry by telephone, in full belief that it was Hartmann who had responded. When next day he discovered his mistake he saw how narrowly he had escaped the police. Mary’s letter to me had, no doubt, been a coincidence, but her subsequent visit was at her mother’s instigation, it having been discovered that I was aware of the terrible tragedy.
“You received some type-written letters?” Boyd observed. “Who wrote them?”
“Blain,” she replied, surprised that he should be aware of this. “He knew that I had discovered the secret, and wrote urging me to take the utmost precautions to preserve what he guardedly referred to as the Silence.”
“But you say that Madame herself took tea with her victims?” I said. “She did not suffer.”
“Certainly not,” responded my beloved. “In her expert hand these poisons, discovered by Hartmann, may be fatal to one person and perfectly harmless to another. She no doubt drank some prophylactic first, which at once counteracted any ill effect of poison taken afterwards. Hartmann seems to have re-discovered the secrets dead with the Borgias, for Madame can, I believe, secrete a swift and deadly poison within almost anything.”
“Where is she now?” asked Boyd quickly. “We must take immediate steps for her arrest, as well as Blain’s.”
“Madame has flown to the Continent, but where I have no idea,” she replied. “To-night I intended to go to Paris and try to obtain a situation as governess, for I feared to remain longer in England, knowing of the body of Hartmann lying in that closed room at the Hollies.”
“You must remain,” Boyd said quietly. “Your evidence will be required.”