Evening star., 1917-11-04


whether 1t was studied and astute Or
whether 1t was merely the natural ex-
uberance of youth. There was certain
ly some sort Of enmity between him
and the doctor. which the remark about
the spangle seemed to fan into flame.
Miss Grey maneuvered tactfully,
however. to prevent a scene. And. after
an Interchange Of remarks that threw
more heat than light on the matter.
Kennedy and l followed Lewis out to
the elevator. with a parting promise to
keep in touch with Miss Grey.
What do you think of the spangle?"
I queried of Craig as Lewis bade US a
hasty goodbye. Is 1t clue or stall?''
non -committally. Just now the thing
that interests me most is what I can
accomplish at the laboratory in the way
Of finding out what Is the matter with
Mansfield"
While Kennedy was busy with the
various solutions which he made of the
contents OF the ramekins that had held
the mushrooms I wandered over to the
several volumes on fungi without
learning anything OF value. I deter
mined to run into the uptown office of
the Star and talk over the affair as
we'll as could without violating what
felt had been given US in confidence.
could not it turned out, have done
anything better. for 1t seemed to be the
gossip Of the Broadway cafes and caba-
rets that Mansfield had been plunging
rather deeply lately and had talked
him in pool. either outright or on
margins. It seemed to be a safe bet
that not only Lewis and DR.. Murray had
Joined him, but that Madeline Har-
grave and Nina Leitch might have gone
in, too. So far the fortunes of the
stock market had not smiled on Mans
fields schemes, and. I reflected, it was
not impossible that what might be
merely an incident to a man like Mans
field could be very serious to the rest
OF them.
1t was IN the middle of the afternoon
when returned to the labora tory
with my slender budget of news. Craig
was quite interested in what I had to
say. even pausing for a few moments
in his work to listen.
In several cages 1 saw that he had a
number Of little guinea pigs. One of
them was plainly In distress. and
Kennedy had been watching him In
tently.
"Its strange" he remarked, 'T had
samples OF material from six ramekins.
Five Of them seem to have had no ef-
feet whatever. But II the bit that I
gave this fellow causes such distress,
what would larger quantity do?'
Then one of the ramekins was pois-
oned?" questioned.
II have discovered in it. as well as
In the blood smear. the tox albumin
that Dr. Murray mentioned" he said
1T isn't late. think | shall have to
take q trip out to Miss Hargrave's.
We ought to do it in an hour and a
half in q car"
Kennedy said very little as we sped
out over the Long Island roads that
led to the little colony of actors and
actresses at Cedar Grove. I had by
how. the mushrooms were involved.
What Kennedy expected to find
could not guess. But from what had
read I surmised that it must be that
one of the poisonous varieties had
somehow got mixed with the others.
as the venom of the rattler or the cop
perhead. / knew that. in some cases.
amanitas had been used to commit
crimes. Was this such a case?
We had no trouble in finding the
estate of Miss Hargrave. and she was
Kennedy lost no time Introducing
himself and coming to the point of his
visit. Madeline Hargrave was a
slender. willowy type of girl, pro
the type I should have imagined that
Mansfield would have been proud to be
seen with.
i've just heard of Mr.. Mansfeld's
Illness" she said. anxiously. 'Mr.
Lewis called me up and told me. 1
day didn't let me know sooner
She said It with an air of vexation.
as though she felt sighted. In spite
Of her evident anxiety to know about
the tragedy. however. l did not detect
the depth Of feeling that Helen Grey
had shown. In fact, the thoughtful
ness of Fleming Lewis almost led me
to believe that It was he, rather than
Mansflr Id. for whom she really cared.
We chatted a few minutes. as Ken
nedy told what little we had discov-
ered. He said nothing about the span
"By the way" remarked Craig, at
length. II would very much like to
have look at that famous mushroom
cellar Of yours"
1--WE always had great interest In
"You-you do not think it could be the
mushrooms-that have caused Mr..
Mansfield's illness. do ,you?"
Kennedy passed off the remark as
best ha could under the circumstances.
and few minutes later we were down
in the dark dampness OF the cellar
back Of the house. where Kennedy set
to work on q most exhaustive sea sch.
could see by the expression on his
face. as his search progressed. that he
was not fnding what he had expected.
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