"
"Why?"
"Simply because strychnine has an unusually bitter taste. It can
be detected in a solution of 1 in 70,000, and can only be
disguised by some strongly flavoured substance. Coco would be
quite powerless to mask it."
One of the jury wanted to know if the same objection applied to
coffee.
"No. Coffee has a bitter taste of its own which would probably
cover the taste of strychnine."
"Then you consider it more likely that the drug was administered
in the coffee, but that for some unknown reason its action was
delayed."
"Yes, but, the cup being completely smashed, there is no
possibility of analyzing its contents."
This concluded Dr. Bauerstein's evidence. Dr. Wilkins
corroborated it on all points. Sounded as to the possibility of
suicide, he repudiated it utterly. The deceased, he said,
suffered from a weak heart, but otherwise enjoyed perfect health,
and was of a cheerful and well-balanced disposition. She would
be one of the last people to take her own life.
Lawrence Cavendish was next called.
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