第372章

"That emetic, Villefort -- see if it is coming." Villefort sprang into the passage, exclaiming, "The emetic! the emetic! -- is it come yet?" No one answered.The most profound terror reigned throughout the house."If I had anything by means of which I could inflate the lungs," said d'Avrigny, looking around him, "perhaps I might prevent suffocation.But there is nothing which would do --nothing!" "Oh, sir," cried Barrois, "are you going to let me die without help? Oh, I am dying! Oh, save me!""A pen, a pen!" said the doctor.There was one lying on the table; he endeavored to introduce it into the mouth of the patient, who, in the midst of his convulsions, was making vain attempts to vomit; but the jaws were so clinched that the pen could not pass them.This second attack was much more violent than the first, and he had slipped from the couch to the ground, where he was writhing in agony.The doctor left him in this paroxysm, knowing that he could do nothing to alleviate it, and, going up to Noirtier, said abruptly, "How do you find yourself? -- well?""Yes."

"Have you any weight on the chest; or does your stomach feel light and comfortable -- eh?""Yes."

"Then you feel pretty much as you generally do after you have had the dose which I am accustomed to give you every Sunday?""Yes."

"Did Barrois make your lemonade?"

"Yes."

"Was it you who asked him to drink some of it?""No."

"Was it M.de Villefort?"

"No."

"Madame?"

"No."

"It was your granddaughter, then, was it not?""Yes." A groan from Barrois, accompanied by a yawn which seemed to crack the very jawbones, attracted the attention of M.d'Avrigny; he left M.Noirtier, and returned to the sick man."Barrois," said the doctor, "can you speak?"Barrois muttered a few unintelligible words."Try and make an effort to do so, my good man." said d'Avrigny.Barrois reopened his bloodshot eyes."Who made the lemonade?""I did."

"Did you bring it to your master directly it was made?""No."

"You left it somewhere, then, in the meantime?""Yes; I left it in the pantry, because I was called away.""Who brought it into this room, then?"

"Mademoiselle Valentine." D'Avrigny struck his forehead with his hand."Gracious heaven," exclaimed he."Doctor, doctor!"cried Barrois, who felt another fit coming.

"Will they never bring that emetic?" asked the doctor.

"Here is a glass with one already prepared," said Villefort, entering the room.

"Who prepared it?"

"The chemist who came here with me."

"Drink it," said the doctor to Barrois."Impossible, doctor;it is too late; my throat is closing up.I am choking! Oh, my heart! Ah, my head! -- Oh, what agony! -- Shall I suffer like this long?""No, no, friend," replied the doctor, "you will soon cease to suffer.""Ah, I understand you," said the unhappy man."My God, have mercy upon me!" and, uttering a fearful cry, Barrois fell back as if he had been struck by lightning.D'Avrigny put his hand to his heart, and placed a glass before his lips.

"Well?" said Villefort."Go to the kitchen and get me some syrup of violets." Villefort went immediately."Do not be alarmed, M.Noirtier," said d'Avrigny; "I am going to take my patient into the next room to bleed him; this sort of attack is very frightful to witness."And taking Barrois under the arms, he dragged him into an adjoining room; but almost immediately he returned to fetch the lemonade.Noirtier closed lids right eye."You want Valentine, do you not? I will tell them to send her to you."Villefort returned, and d'Avrigny met him in the passage.

"Well, how is he now?" asked he."Come in here," said d'Avrigny, and he took him into the chamber where the sick man lay."Is he still in a fit?" said the procureur.

"He is dead."

Villefort drew back a few steps, and, clasping his hands, exclaimed, with real amazement and sympathy, "Dead? -- and so soon too!""Yes, it is very soon," said the doctor, looking at the corpse before him; "but that ought not to astonish you;Monsieur and Madame de Saint-Meran died as soon.People die very suddenly in your house, M.de Villefort.""What?" cried the magistrate, with an accent of horror and consternation, "are you still harping on that terrible idea?""Still, sir; and I shall always do so," replied d'Avrigny, "for it has never for one instant ceased to retain possession of my mind; and that you may be quite sure I am not mistaken this time, listen well to what I am going to say, M.de Villefort." The magistrate trembled convulsively.

"There is a poison which destroys life almost without leaving any perceptible traces.I know it well; I have studied it in all its forms and in the effects which it produces.I recognized the presence of this poison in the case of poor Barrois as well as in that of Madame de Saint-Meran.There is a way of detecting its presence.It restores the blue color of litmus-paper reddened by an acid, and it turns syrup of violets green.We have no litmus-paper, but, see, here they come with the syrup of violets."The doctor was right; steps were heard in the passage.M.

d'Avrigny opened the door, and took from the hands of the chambermaid a cup which contained two or three spoonfuls of the syrup, he then carefully closed the door."Look," said he to the procureur, whose heart beat so loudly that it might almost be heard, "here is in this cup some syrup of violets, and this decanter contains the remainder of the lemonade of which M.Noirtier and Barrois partook.If the lemonade be pure and inoffensive, the syrup will retain its color; if, on the contrary, the lemonade be drugged with poison, the syrup will become green.Look closely!"The doctor then slowly poured some drops of the lemonade from the decanter into the cup, and in an instant a light cloudy sediment began to form at the bottom of the cup; this sediment first took a blue shade, then from the color of sapphire it passed to that of opal, and from opal to emerald.Arrived at this last hue, it changed no more.The result of the experiment left no doubt whatever on the mind.

"The unfortunate Barrois has been poisoned," said d'Avrigny, "and I will maintain this assertion before God and man."Villefort said nothing, but he clasped his hands, opened his haggard eyes, and, overcome with his emotion, sank into a chair.