The doctor came to Matilde first.  Far away, at the other end of the house, Elettra was with Veronica.  She had known what they had done for the countess on the preceding evening, and while the servants were screaming and running hither and thither through the apartments, like scared sheep, the woman had quietly got oil and warm water, and was giving both to her mistress.  She knew that a footman had gone for the doctor.  When Veronica had first been seized with pain, Elettra had thrust the package of poison into her own pocket, and it was still there.

By the time the antidote began to act, Elettra believed that the doctor must be in the house.  Not wishing to leave Veronica even for a moment, she rang the bell.  But no one came.  The woman suspected that the doctor had gone first to Matilde, and she decided in a moment that it was better to leave her mistress alone for two or three minutes than not to have the physician’s assistance at once.  She hastened to Matilde’s room.  As she passed a half-open door the package of poison in her pocket struck against the door-post and reminded her of its presence, if she needed reminding.

The doctor was bending over Matilde, who seemed very weak.  As Elettra entered, she saw that there was no one else in the room.  A drawer in a piece of furniture stood open as Matilde had left it, and as Elettra passed, she dropped the package in, and with a movement of her hand covered it with some folded handkerchiefs, from a little heap, shutting the drawer with a quick push.  Neither Matilde nor the doctor saw her do it.  As Elettra spoke to the doctor, the countess started at the sound of her voice.  She thought the maid had come to say that Veronica was dead.  Almost violently the woman dragged the physician away with her, and Matilde smiled in the midst of her sufferings.

It would be useless to chronicle the details of the night and of the following morning.  The three poisoned persons were almost recovered within twelve hours.  Of the servants who had fled, Matilde’s maid was the first to come back when she learned that no one was dead.

As the night wore on towards dawn, and the countess learned that Veronica was alive and not at all likely to die, she silently turned her face to the wall and tore her pocket-handkerchief slowly with her teeth.  In the morning, when the doctor was there, the maid was alone in the room, arranging things as quickly as she could, and hoping that in the confusion of the previous night, her absence might not have been observed.  In the drawer, amongst the handkerchiefs and other things, she came upon the package, looked at it in surprise, turned it round and round, and read the words written on it.  Then, thinking that she had discovered the clue to the attempted wholesale murder, and that she might obtain pardon for her defection, she came to the bedside and held it up to the doctor.  He, too, looked at it, and read the words.  Matilde’s heavy eyes opened, and then stared as she recognized the package.  She thought that of course it had been found in Elettra’s room, and was sure of the answer, when she put the question to her maid.