Part 15 (1/2)
”I entered Mrs. Inglethorp's room. She was at that moment in a typical tetanic convulsion. She turned towards me, and gasped out: 'Alfred.Alfred..' ”
”Could the strychnine have been administered in Mrs. Inglethorp's after-dinner coffee which was taken to her
by her husband?” ”Possibly, but strychnine is a fairly rapid drug in its action. The symptoms appear from one to two hours after it has been swallowed. It is r.e.t.a.r.ded under certain conditions, none of which, however, appear to have been present in this case. I presume Mrs. Inglethorp took the coffee after dinner about eight o'clock, whereas the symptoms did not manifest themselves until the early hours of the morning, which, on the face of it, points to the drug having been taken much later in the evening.”
”Mrs. Inglethorp was in the habit of drinking a cup of coco in the middle of the night. Could the strychnine have been administered in that?”
”No, I myself took a sample of the coco remaining in the saucepan and had it a.n.a.lysed. There was no strychnine present.”
I heard Poirot chuckle softly beside me.
”How did you know?” I whispered.
”Listen.”
”I should say”.the doctor was continuing.”that I would have been considerably surprised at any other
result.”
”Why?”
”Simply because strychnine has an unusually bitter taste. It can be detected in a solution of 1 in 70,000, and
can only be disguised by some strongly flavoured substance. Coco would be quite powerless to mask it.”
One of the jury wanted to know if the same objection applied to coffee.
”No. Coffee has a bitter taste of its own which would probably cover the taste of strychnine.”
”Then you consider it more likely that the drug was administered in the coffee, but that for some unknown
reason its action was delayed.”
”Yes, but, the cup being completely smashed, there is no possibility of a.n.a.lyzing its contents.” This concluded Dr. Bauerstein's evidence. Dr. Wilkins corroborated it on all points. Sounded as to the possibility of suicide, he repudiated it utterly. The deceased, he said, suffered from a weak heart, but otherwise enjoyed perfect health, and was of a cheerful and well-balanced disposition. She would be one of the last people to take her own life. Lawrence Cavendish was next called. His evidence was quite unimportant, being a mere repet.i.tion of that of his brother. Just as he was about to step down, he paused, and said rather hesitatingly: ”I should like to make a suggestion if I may?”
He glanced deprecatingly at the Coroner, who replied briskly: ”Certainly, Mr. Cavendish, we are here to arrive at the truth of this matter, and welcome anything that may
lead to further elucidation.”
”It is just an idea of mine,” explained Lawrence. ”Of course I may be quite wrong, but it still seems to me that my mother's death might be accounted for by natural means.”
”How do you make that out, Mr. Cavendish?”
”My mother, at the time of her death, and for some time before it, was taking a tonic containing strychnine.”
”Ah!” said the Coroner.
The jury looked up, interested.
”I believe,” continued Lawrence, ”that there have been cases where the c.u.mulative effect of a drug,
administered for some time, has ended by causing death. Also, is it not possible that she may have taken an
overdose of her medicine by accident?”
”This is the first we have heard of the deceased taking strychnine at the time of her death. We are much obliged to you, Mr. Cavendish.”
Dr. Wilkins was recalled and ridiculed the idea.
”What Mr. Cavendish suggests is quite impossible. Any doctor would tell you the same. Strychnine is, in a certain sense, a c.u.mulative poison, but it would be quite impossible for it to result in sudden death in this
way. There would have to be a long period of chronic symptoms which would at once have attracted my attention. The whole thing is absurd.”
”And the second suggestion? That Mrs. Inglethorp may have inadvertently taken an overdose?”
”Three, or even four doses, would not have resulted in death. Mrs. Inglethorp always had an extra large
amount of medicine made up at a time, as she dealt with Coot's, the Cash Chemists in Tadminster. She would have had to take very nearly the whole bottle to account for the amount of strychnine found at the post-mortem.”
”Then you consider that we may dismiss the tonic as not being in any way instrumental in causing her death?”
”Certainly. The supposition is ridiculous.”
The same juryman who had interrupted before here suggested that the chemist who made up the medicine might have committed an error.