Then, still without a word, he took up a test-tube and dropped
into it a little liquid from a bottle on a shelf above the table.
His face lighted up, and he regarded the reaction attentively for
some time. Then he turned to me, still holding the tube.
"You have been on a bust," he said with a smile as if the remark
of a few minutes before were still fresh. "Only it was a laughing
gas jag--nitrous oxide."
"Nitrous oxide?" I repeated. "How--what do you mean?"
"I mean simply that a test of your blood shows that you were
poisoned by nitrous oxide gas. You remember the sample of blood
which I squeezed from your thumb? I took it because I knew that a
gas--and it has proved to be nitrous oxide--is absorbed through
the lungs into the circulation and its presence can be told for a
considerable period after administration."
He paused a moment, then went on: "To be specific in this case I
found by microscopic examination that the number of corpuscles in
your blood was vastly above the normal, something like between
seven and eight million to a drop that should have had somewhat
more than only half that number. You were poisoned by gas that--"
"Yes," I interrupted, "but how, with all the doors locked?"
"I was coming to that," he said quietly, picking up the lock and
looking at it thoughtfully.
Pages:
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246