‘Read the book long ago,’ retorted Gollipeck,
gruffly, more moved by the argument than he cared
to show; ’I will keep silent about this if you
leave the colony at once.’
‘I agree,’ said Vandeloup, pointing to
the floor; ’you see I had already decided to
travel before you entered. Any other stipulation?’
‘None,’ retorted the doctor, putting on
his scarf again; ’with Octave Braulard I have
nothing to do: I want to find out who killed
Selina Sprotts, and if you did, I won’t spare
you.’
‘First, catch your hare,’ replied Vandeloup,
smoothly, going to the door and unlocking it; ’I
am ready to stand the test of a trial, and surely
that ought to content you. As it is, I’ll
stay in Melbourne long enough to give you the satisfaction
of hanging this woman for the murder, and then I will
go to America.’
Dr Gollipeck was disgusted at the smooth brutality
of this man, and moved hastily to the door.
‘Will you not have a glass of wine?’ asked
Vandeloup, stopping him.
‘Wine with you?’ said the doctor, harshly,
looking him up and down; ‘no, it would choke
me,’ and he hurried away.
‘I wish it would,’ observed M. Vandeloup,
pleasantly, as he reentered the room, ’whew!
this devil of a doctor—what a dangerous
fool, but I have got the better of him, and at all
events,’ he said, lighting another cigarette,
’I have saved Vandeloup from suffering for the
crime of Braulard.’
There was no doubt the Sprotts’ poisoning case
was the sensation of the day in Melbourne. The
papers were full of it, and some even went so far
as to give a plan of the house, with dotted lines thereon,
to show how the crime was committed. All this
was extremely amusing, for, as a matter of fact, the
evidence as yet had not shown any reasonable ground
for supposing foul play had taken place. One
paper, indeed, said that far too much was assumed in
the case, and that the report of the Government analyst
should be waited for before such emphatic opinions
were given by the press regarding the mode of death.
But it was no use trying to reason with the public,
they had got it into their sage heads that a crime
had been committed, and demanded evidence; so as the
press had no real evidence to give, they made it up,
and the public, in private conversations, amplified
the evidence until they constructed a complete criminal
case.
‘Pshaw!’ said Rolleston, when he read
these sensational reports, ’in spite of the
quidnuncs the mountain will only produce a mouse after
all.’
