The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1915-10-09

SOk
start, as II / had disturbed him at a
particularly interesting place, and fol-
lowed me to the medicine chest. There,
deprived of the breathless excitement
incidental to the practice Of his profess
sion. he looked at Betteredge and
yawned YEARLY.
Miss Verinder Joined me with a glass
jug of cold water which she had taken
from the side table. Let me pour out
the water" she whispered. II must
have a hand In itr'
l measured out the forty minims
from the bottle and poured the lauda-
mum into a medicine glass. Fill 1t till
It is three parts full" / said, and hand
ed the glass to Miss verlnder. l then
directed B~etteredge to lock up the med
icine chest, informing him that l had
done with II now. A look of unuttera-
Bile relief overspread the old servants
countenance. He had evidently sus-
pected me Of a medical design on his
young lady.
took the piece Of crystal which was
to represent the diamond from my
pocket and gave 1t to her.
"You must have a hand in this. too"
l said. You must put 1t where you
put the moonstone last year."
She led the way to the Indian cabinet
and put the mock diamond into the
drawer which the real diamond occu-
pied on the birthday night. Mr.. Bruf
witnessed this proceeding under pro-
test. as he had witnessed everything
else. But the strong dramatic interest
which the experiment was now assum-
ing proved. TO my great amusement,
to be too much for Betteredge's capaci-
bled as he held the candle, and he
whispered a~nxiously, Are you sure.
miss, it's the right drawer?"
I led the way out again, with the
laudanum and water in my hand. At
the door / stopped to address a last
word to Miss Verinder.
Don't be long in putting out the
lights" l said.
Il will put them out at once" she an
swered. land l will wait In my bed
room. with only one candle allght."
She closed the sitting room door be-
hind us. Followed by Mr.. Bruff and
Betteredge. I went back to Mr.. Blake's
room.
We found him moving restlessly from
side TO side of the bed and wondering
irritably whether he was to have the
laudanum that night. In the presence
Of the two witnesses / gave him the
dose and shook up his pillows and told
him to lie down again quietly and wait.
Mr.. Bruff resumed his papers with
every appearance of being as deeply in
terested In them as ever. As for Bet
teredge. consistency Of principle and
dignity of conduct had become In his
case mere empty words.
Looking next toward Mr.. Blake I
found him as restless as ever In his
bed. fretfully wondering why the in
fluence of the laudanum had not begun
to assert itself yet. The wiser course
to take was to dismiss the idea of the
opium from his mind by leading him
insensibly to think of something else.
With this view l encouraged him to
talk to me. contriving so to direct the
conversation on my side as to lead him
back again to the subject which had
engaged us earlier in the evening, the
subject Of the diamond. Little by little
he became so interested In putting me
right that he forgot TO fidget in the
bed. His mind was far away from
the question Of the opium at the all
important time when his eyes first told
me that the opium was beginning to
lay its hold on his brain.
/ looked at my watch. 1t wanted
five minutes to - when the Fremont
tory symptoms Of the working of the
laudanum first showed themselves to
me.
AT this time no Impractical eve
would have detected any change In
him. The sublime intoxication of OPT
UNI cleaned In his eyes; the dew Of a
stealthy perspiration began to glisten
on his face. In five minutes more the
talk which he still kept up with me
failed In Conference. He held steadily
to the subject Of the diamond. but he
ceased to complete his sentences. A
little later the sentences dropped TO
single words. Then there was an in
terval Of silence. Then he sat up in
bed. Then. still busy with the subject
of the diamond, he began to talk again
mot to me, but to himself. That
change told me that the first stage In
the experiment was reached. The stim-
ulant influence Of the opium had got
him.