The Washington herald., 1915-12-26

some bread crumbs off his ampl,
waistcoat. decidedly on his dignity a
this ill-mannered interruption.
what is this important matter?'
he demanded.
IL want you and your family to
leave the house now." returned Mag
mum authostatively.
Were in the middle of dinner"
81 know. So much the better
Leave the meal as it is and 90 off tc
some hotel"
"Unheard Off
"But not impossible"
"You presume, sir" o..
when take up a case, l expect a
free hand. l want an empty house
left just as it is. The servants are
to parade before me. and then go of
at once. Your family are to follow,
after they've made suitable packing
arrangements"
Leave the house empty"
"Yes. You're insured against burg
larry, l suppose:"
"Of course"
Then where's the difficulty"
"It's unheard Of"
so is your poisoning problem. An
unheard-of case requires unheard- of
methods"
Sir Julian was impressed, in spite
of his annoyance at being interrupted
in the middle of sacred meal.
Leave for how long?" he asked.
Say week. | may be able to
solve the problem in a day, but it'll
be safer to say a week"
.1'll consult with my wife" con-
ceded Boyd. and presently, like a
shepherd with his flock, he returned
with his wife and family.
Young Boyd. trailing mutinously
behind. eyed Magnum with consider
able hostility, found the return gaze
disconccrting, and switched his look
Of displeasure on to Meredith, who
wilted under it.
Sir Julian made cursory introduc-
ton Of visitors to family. and Lady
Boyd took the word, explaining
symptoms and suspicious at great
length. She was thin, colorless little
woman, with thin, colorless voice
that went trailing on interminably like
lump of insipid sweet stuff pulled
out by a butter-cream machine. An
ounce of fact served with her to
make whole soup tureen Of CONVEX
sation. Distilling out the ounce of
fact, it amounted to this.
Gastric pains, dizziness and sick
headache on awakening in the morn
ing. Varied most erratically, being
sometimes very severe and necessi-
tating a day or two in bed, and at
other times slight and transitory. At
the present time there was a lull.
Next week it might be virulent
again. Attacked all the members of
the family, but none of the servants,
with the one exception of the house
keeper. Applied only 70 the house,
when they went elsewhere the trou-
bic vanished.
Then why not give up the house,"
Magnum had interjected.
Young Boyd perked up at this sug-
geStion, but indignation depicted it.
self on the countenance OF Sir Julian |
and Lady Boyd. She explained |
engthily that the idea was unthink-
able. Continuing with the facts:
Analysis had given clean bill of
health to the water, the milk and all |
he food examined. She had tried
changing the milkman, the grocer,
md the baker. She had dismissed
several OF the servants. Still the dis
urbing symptoms continued. i
"The wine?" quericd Magnum.
1t was all of well-known brands.
with the liqueurs.
"Tea and coffee"
Had also been analyzed.
The two Misses Boyd began to eye
he shy young Meredith. Seeing
him blushing. they continued the ocu-
ar attacks with minx-like malicious
less. He edged around behind Mag
lum, his pillar of protection.
The butler knocked and entered to
that the servants were now
eady to depart. Magnum strobe out
o the hall, where they were lined up
n strict order of precedence, begin '
ng with the prim housckeeper and /
nding with the ''tweeny" and the {
oot boy. Each had his or her bag
IT package of clothes to take away. |
Iagnum, impervious to hostile looks, II
vent through every package to make 1
ure that nothing suspicious was be- {
1g carried away from, the house. S
hen he dismissed them, with the ex- /
option of the prim housekeeper, 4
,hom he wished to cross-examine. 6
Her symptoms, as she described I
hem, corresponded closely to the
amily symptoms. She suspected {
hat Some one had a prudpe against i