"
"I do not doubt that it would have been impossible, knowing the London
press," replied Dr. Cumberly, "but I, too, am glad that it has been
achieved; for in the light of your Paris discoveries, I begin at last to
understand."
"You were not Mrs. Leroux's medical adviser?"
"I was not," replied Cumberly, glancing sharply at Max. "Good heavens,
to think that I had never realized the truth!"
"It is not so wonderful at all. Of course, as I have seen from the
evidence which you gave to the police, you knew that Mrs. Vernon was
addicted to the use of opium?"
"It was perfectly evident," replied Cumberly; "painfully evident. I will
not go into particulars, but her entire constitution was undermined by
the habit. I may add, however, that I did not associate the vice with
her violent end, except"...
"Ah!" interrupted Max, shaking his finger at the physician, "you
are coming to the point upon which you disagreed with the divisional
surgeon! Now, it is an important point. You are of opinion that
the injection in Mrs. Vernon's shoulder--which could not have been
self-administered"...
"She was not addicted to the use of the needle," interrupted Cumberly;
"she was an opium SMOKER."
"Quite so, quite so," said Max: "it makes the point all the more clear.
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