eccentric in his old age, we will say. Among his eccentricities
none seems to have impressed the newspapers more than his
devotion to a medium and her manager, Mrs. May Popper and Mr.
Howard Farrington. Now, of course, the case does not go into the
truth or falsity of spiritualism, you understand. You have your
opinion, and I have mine. What this aspect of the case involves
is merely the character of the medium and her manager. You know,
of course, that Henry Vandam is completely under their control."

He paused again, to emphasise the point.

"You asked me if I was in possession of any facts which have not
been given to the press. Yes, I am. And just there lies the
trouble. They are so very conflicting as to be almost worse than
useless, as far as I can see. We found near the unfortunate woman
a small pill-box with three capsules still in it. It was labelled
'One before retiring' and bore the name of a certain druggist and
the initials 'Dr. C. W. H.' Now, I am convinced that the initials
are merely a blind and do not give any clue. The druggist says
that a maid from the Vandam house brought in the prescription,
which of course he filled. It is a harmless enough
prescription--contains, among other things, four and a half
grains of quinine and one-sixth of a grain of morphine. Six
capsules were prepared altogether.

"Now, of course my first thought was that she might have taken
several capsules at once and that it was a case of accidental
morphine poisoning, or it might even be suicide. But it cannot be
either, to my mind, for only three of the six capsules are gone.
No doubt, also, you are acquainted with the fact that the one