only a few grains of the stuff, was enough to kill us all if it
were introduced into a scratch of our skin.

"Until recently chemistry was powerless to solve the enigma, the
microscope to detect its presence, or pathology to explain the
reason for its deadly effect. And even now, about all we know is
that autopsical research reveals absolutely nothing but the
general disorganisation of the blood corpuscles. In fact, such
poisoning is best known by the peculiar symptoms--the vertigo,
weak legs, and falling jaw. The victim is unable to speak or
swallow, but is fully sensible. He has nausea, paralysis, an
accelerated pulse at first followed rapidly by a weakening, with
breath slow and laboured. The pupils are contracted, but react to
the last, and he dies in convulsions like asphyxia. It is both a
blood and a nerve poison."

As Kennedy proceeded, Mrs. Maitland never took her large eyes from
his face.

Kennedy now drew from a large envelope in which he protected it,
the typewritten note which had been found on Maitland. He said
nothing about the "suicide" as he quietly began a new line of
accumulating evidence.

"There is an increasing use of the typewriting machine for the
production of spurious papers," he began, rattling the note
significantly. "It is partly due to the great increase in the use
of the typewriter generally, but more than all is it due to the
erroneous idea that fraudulent typewriting cannot be detected. The
fact is that the typewriter is perhaps a worse means of concealing