I was aware, of
course, that the unhappy victim--Mrs. Vernon--was addicted to the use of
opium, and if a tangible link were necessary, it existed in the form of
the written fragment which I myself took from the dead woman's hand."...
"A link!" said Denise Ryland.
"A link between Mrs. Vernon and Mrs. Leroux," explained the physician.
"You see, it had never occurred to me that they knew one another."...
"And did they?" questioned his daughter, eagerly.
"It is almost certain that they were acquainted, at any rate; and in
view of certain symptoms, which, without giving them much consideration,
I nevertheless had detected in Mrs. Leroux, I am disposed to think that
the bond of sympathy which existed between them was"...
He seemed to hesitate, looking at his daughter, whose gray eyes were
fixed upon him intently, and then at Denise Ryland, who, with her chin
resting upon her hands, and her elbows propped upon the table, was
literally glaring at him.
"Opium!" he said.
A look of horror began slowly to steal over Helen Cumberly's face;
Denise Ryland's head commenced to sway from side to side. But neither
woman spoke.
"By the courtesy of Inspector Dunbar," continued Dr. Cumberly, "I have
been enabled to keep in touch with the developments of the case, as you
know; and he had noted as a significant fact that the late Mrs.
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