Detective and mystery stories; English fiction -- 19th century
And here we seem to have another instance of the manner in which the
wisest precautions so often turn against those by whom they are taken
(III. and V.). Admitting that the illness of Madame R** was really
caused by criminal means, nothing could be wiser than the precaution
which selected for their first essay a night on which they could be
tried without fear of observation. Yet this very circumstance enables
us to fix a date of the last importance, which without it must have
remained uncertain. Madame R**, then, was taken ill on Saturday, the
5th April. On that very night--at, as nearly as can be ascertained, the
very same hour, Mrs. Anderton was unaccountably seized with an illness
in all respects resembling hers. Like hers, too, the attacks returned
at fortnightly intervals: For a few days, on the Baron's advice, a
particular medicine is given, and at first with apparently good effect.
At the same date the diary of Dr. Marsden shows a similar amelioration
of symptoms in the case of Madame R**. In both cases the amendment is
but short, and the disease again pursues its course. The result in both
is utter exhaustion. In the case of Madame R** reducing the sufferer to
death's door; in the _weaker constitution_ of her sister terminating in
death. Examination is made. The appearances of the body, no less than
the symptoms exhibited in life, are all those of antimonial poisoning.
No antimony is, however, found; and from this and other circumstances,
results a verdict of "Natural Death." On the 12th October, then, Mrs.
Anderton's story ends.
_From that time dates the recovery of Madame R**._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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