Horace was right in his assumption that the case against Lucinda Hart and Hannah Simmons would never be pressed.

Although it was proved beyond a doubt that Eliza Farrel had swallowed arsenic in a sufficiently large quantity to cause death, the utter absence of motive was in the favor of the accused, and then the suspicion that the poison might have been self-administered, if not with suicidal intent, with another, steadily gained ground.

Many thought Miss Farrel's wonderful complexion might easily have been induced by the use of arsenic.
At all events, the evidence against Lucinda and Hannah, when sifted, was so exceedingly flimsy, and the lack of motive grew so evident, that there was no further question of bringing them to trial.

Still the suspicion, once raised, grew like a weed, as suspicion does grow in the ready soil of the human heart.

For a month after the tragedy it seemed as if Sylvia Whitman's prophecy concerning the falling off of the hotel guests was destined to fail.