"By the way," remarked Craig, at length, "I would very much like
to have a look at that famous mushroom-cellar of yours."

For the first time she seemed momentarily to lose her poise.

"I've always had a great interest in mushrooms," she explained,
hastily. "You--you do not think it could be the mushrooms--that
have caused Mr. Mansfield's illness, do you?"

Kennedy passed off the remark as best he could under the
circumstances. Though she was not satisfied with his answer, she
could not very well refuse his request, and a few minutes later we
were down in the dark dampness of the cellar back of the house,
where Kennedy set to work on a most exhaustive search.

I could see by the expression on his face, as his search
progressed, that he was not finding what he had expected. Clearly,
the fungi before us were the common edible mushrooms. The upper
side of each, as he examined it, was white, with brownish fibrils,
or scales. Underneath, some were a beautiful salmon-pink, changing
gradually to almost black in the older specimens. The stem was
colored like the top. But search as he might for what I knew he
was after, in none did he find anything but a small or more often
no swelling at the base, and no "cup," as it is called.

As he rose after his thorough search, I saw that he was completely
baffled.

"I hardly thought you'd find anything," Miss Hargrave remarked,