"That is all,"
he announced, and with a polite bow the deputy marshal withdrew.
Detective Ferguson recognized Kent as he passed up the room to the
platform and gave him a slight bow and smile, but the smile had
disappeared when, at the coroner's request, he told of his arrival
just after the discovery of the burglar's identity.
"I searched the cage where the prisoner had been seated and found
this handkerchief," he went on to say. "It had been dropped by
Turnbull and was saturated with amyl nitrite. I had it examined
by a chemist, who said that this amyl nitrite was given to patients
with heart trouble in little pearl capsules to be crushed in
handkerchiefs and the fumes inhaled.
"The chemist also told me that" - the detective spoke with
impressive seriousness, "judging from the number of particles of
capsules adhering to the linen, more than one capsule had been
crushed by Turnbull. Here is the handkerchief," and he laid it
on the table with great care.
Kent's heart sank; the moment he had dreaded all that long
afternoon had come.
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