"A carelessly administered hypodermic injection, was it not, Monsieur le
Préfet?" asked the secretary of the American Embassy. "It was mentioned
in the papers and reported to us at the embassy."

"Yes," said Desmalions. "To assist his recovery from a long attack of
influenza which had kept him in bed all the winter, Mr. Mornington, by
his doctor's orders, used to give himself injections of glycero-phosphate
of soda. He must have omitted the necessary precautions on the last
occasion when he did so, for the wound was poisoned, inflammation set in
with lightning rapidity, and Mr. Mornington was dead in a few hours."

The Prefect of Police turned to the solicitor and asked:

"Have I summed up the facts correctly, Maître Lepertuis?"

"Absolutely, Monsieur le Préfet."

M. Desmalions continued:

"The next morning, Maître Lepertuis called here and, for reasons which
you will understand when you have heard the document read, showed me
Cosmo Mornington's will, which had been placed in his hands."

While the Prefect was looking through the papers, Maître Lepertuis added:

"I may be allowed to say that I saw my client only once before I was
summoned to his death-bed; and that was on the day when he sent for me to
come to his room in the hotel to hand me the will which he had just made.
This was at the beginning of his influenza. In the course of conversation