I didn't fancy him from the first moment; and he was so blessed eager to have me begin by suspecting you two, that I smelt a rat at once.

Oh, but he's been crafty enough in other things.

Putting that devilish stuff on the ninth finger of the skeleton, and never losing an opportunity to get his poor old father to handle it and show it to people.

It's a strong, irritant poison--sap of the upas-tree is the base of it--producing first an irritation of the skin, then a blister, and, when that broke, communicating the poison directly to the blood every time the skeleton hand touched it.

A weak solution at first, so that the decline would be natural, the growth of the malady gradual.
But if I'd found that phial in your room last night, as he hoped and believed I had done--well, look for yourself.