Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1891-03-18
"A MYSTERIOUS CASE"

matter, and accepted the only SOluL1On
which the facts seemed to warrant. But
they are men, and | am a woman; be-
sides I knew the nurse we'll, and could
not believe her capable of willful deceit,
much less of the heinous crime which
deceit in this case involved. So to me
the affair was mystery.
The fact were these.
My patient, young typewriter,
seemingly without friends or enemies,
lay in the small room of boarding
house, afflicted with painful but not
dangerous maladv. Though she was
comparatively helpless, her vital organs
were strong, and we never had
moments uneasiness concerning her,
till one morning when we found her in
an almost dying condition from having
taken, as we quickly discovered, dose
of poison, instead of the soothing mix
ture which had been left for her with
the nurse. Poison! and no one, not
eveniherself or the nurse, could explain
how the same got into the room, much
less into her medicine. And when [
came to study the situation | found
myself as much at loss as they, indeed,
more SO; for [ knew [ had made no
mistake in preparing the mixture, and
that, even if had, this especial poison
could not have found its way into it,
owing to the fact that there neither was
nor ever had been a drop of it in my
possession.
The mixture then, was pure when it
left my hand, and according to the
nurse, whom as [ have said | implicitly
believe, it went into the glass pure.
And vet when two hours later, without
her having left the room or anybody
coming into it, she found occasion to
administer the draught, poison was in
the cup and the patient was only saved
from death by the most immediate and
energetic measures, not only on her
part but on that of DR.. Holmes, whom
In her haste and perturbation she had
called in from the adjacent house.
The patient, young, innocent, unfor-
tunate, but of a strangely courageous
disposition, betrayed nothing but the
utmost surprise at the peril she had so
narrowly escaped. When DR.. Holmes
intimated that perhaps she had been
tired of suffering and had herself found
means of putting the deadly drug into
her medicine, she opened her great
grey eyes with such a look of child like
surprise and reproach that he blushed
and murmured some sort of an apology.
"Poison myself" she cried, "when
you promise me that [ shall get we'll?
You don't know what horror [ have of
dying in debt or you would never say
that
This was sometime after the critical
moment had passed, and there were in
the room Mrs. Dayton, the landlady,
DR.. Holmes. the nurse and myself. At
the utterance of these words we all felt
ashamed and cast looks of increased in
terest at the poor girl.
She was very lovely. Though with
out means, and to all appearance with
out friends, she possessed in great de-
gree the charm of winsomeness, and
not even her many sufferings, nor the
Indignation under which she was then
laboring, could quite rob her counte-
nance Of that tender and cOnfding eX-
preston which so often redeems the
plainest face and makes beauty doubly
attractive.
CDR. Holmes does not know you,"
fastened to say. 81 do, and utterly re-
pei for you any such insinuation. In
return will you tell me if there is any
one in the world whom you can call
your enemy? Though the chief mys-
terry is how so deadly and unusual
poison could have gotten into a clean
glass without the knowledge of yourself
or the nurse, still it might not be amiss
to know if there is anyone, here or
elsewhere, who for any reason might
desire your death"
The surprise in the child-like eyes in
creased rather than diminished.
''I don't know what to say" she muir
INJURED. Il am so Insignificant and
feeble person that it seems absurd for
me to talk of having no enemy. Be-
sides, [ have none. On the contrary
every one seems to love me more than
I deserve Haven't you noticed it, Mrs.
Dayton?'
The landlady smiled and stroked the
sick girls hand.
Indeed" she replied, ~ have no.
ticed that people love you, but | have
never thought that it was more than
you deserved. You are a dear little
thing, Addie."
And though she knew and | knew
that the every one" mentioned by the
her unknown employer, we were
none the less touched by the words.
The more we studied the mystery, the
deeper and less explainable did it be-
come.
And indeed doubt if we should have
ever got to the bottom oft, if there had
not presently occurred in my patient
repetition of the same dangerous symp
toms, followed by the same discovery
of poison in the glass, and the same
failure on the part of herself and the
nurse to account for it. [ was aroused
from my bed at midnight to attend her,
and as [ entered her room and met her
beseeching eyes looking upon me from
the very shadow of death, | made a
vow that [ would never cease my efforts
till I had penetrated the secret of what
certainly looked like persistent at
tempt upon the poor girls life.
| went about the matter deliberately.
AS soon as l could leave her side /
drew the nurse into a corner and again
questioned her. The answers were the
same as before. Addie had shown dis
tress as soon as she mad swallowed her
usual quantity of medicine, and a few
minutes more was in a perilous condi-
ton.
''Did you hand the glass yourself to
Addie ?''
81 did"
''Where did you take it from ?"
"From the place where you left it
the little stand on the further side of