Part 4 (2/2)
”In that case, Monsieur, you cannot know more about it than I do, and you must accept the verdict of the doctor.”
”I am sorry, but his verdict fails to satisfy me.”
”But look here, Monsieur, what prompts you to make the accusation? Have you any evidence?”
”Yes.”
”What evidence?”
”Your own words, Monsieur le Prefet.”
”My own words? What do you mean?”
”I will tell you, Monsieur le Prefet. You began by saying that Cosmo Mornington had taken up medicine and practised it with great skill; next, you said that he had given himself an injection which, carelessly administered, set up inflammation and caused his death within a few hours.”
”Yes.”
”Well, Monsieur le Prefet, I maintain that a man who practises medicine with great skill and who is accustomed to treating sick people, as Cosmo Mornington was, is incapable of giving himself a hypodermic injection without first taking every necessary antiseptic precaution. I have seen Cosmo at work, and I know how he set about things.”
”Well?”
”Well, the doctor just wrote a certificate as any doctor will when there is no sort of clue to arouse his suspicions.”
”So your opinion is--”
”Maitre Lepertuis,” asked Perenna, turning to the solicitor, ”did you notice nothing unusual when you were summoned to Mr. Mornington's death-bed?”
”No, nothing. Mr. Mornington was in a state of coma.”
”It's a strange thing in itself,” observed Don Luis, ”that an injection, however badly administered, should produce such rapid results. Were there no signs of suffering?”
”No ... or rather, yes.... Yes, I remember the face showed brown patches which I did not see on the occasion of my first visit.”
”Brown patches? That confirms my supposition Cosmo Mornington was poisoned.”
”But how?” exclaimed the Prefect.
”By some substance introduced into one of the phials of glycero-phosphate, or into the syringe which the sick man employed.”
”But the doctor?” M. Desmalions objected.
”Maitre Lepertuis,” Perenna continued, ”did you call the doctor's attention to those brown patches?”
”Yes, but he attached no importance to them.”
”Was it his ordinary medical adviser?”
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