Agatha Christie - Poirot 38 by Poirot's Early Cases

Author:Poirot's Early Cases [Cases, Poirot's Early]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-10-31T21:27:01+00:00

entendu - then, with an access of rage, the blood flies to th head, and pstl - there you are!' 'But M.

Droulard had had no violent emotion.' 'No? I made sure that he had been having a stormy altercatio with M. de Saint Alard.' 'Why should he?' 'C'est dvidentl' The doctor shrugged his shoulders. 'Was not M. de Saint Alard a Catholic of the most fanatical? Their friendship was being ruined by this question of church and state. Not a day passed without discussions. To M.

de Saint Alard, Ddroulard appeared almost as Antichrist.' This was unexpected, and gave me food for thought.

'One more question, Doctor: would it be possible to introduce a fatal dose of poison into a chocolate?' 'It would be possible, I suppose,' said the doctor slowly. 'Pure prussic acid would meet the case if there were no chance of evaporation, and a tiny globule of anything might be swallowed unnoticed - but it does not seem a very likely supposition. A chocolate full of morphine or strychnine - ' He made a wry face. 'You comprehend, M. Poirot - one bite would be enoughl The unwary one would not stand upon ceremony.' 'Thank you, M. le Docteur.' I withdrew. Next I made inquiries of the chemists, especially those in the neighbourhood of the Avenue Louise. It is good to be of the police. I got the information I wanted without any trouble. Only in one case could I hear of any poison having been supplied to the house in question. This was some eye drops atropine sulphate for Madame Droulard. Atropine is a potent poison, and for the moment I was elated, but the symptoms of atropine poisoning are closely allied to those of ptomaine, and bear no resemblance to those I was studying. Besides, the prescription was an old one. Madame Droulard had suffered from cataract in both eyes for many years.

I was turning away discouraged when the chemist's voice called me back.

'Un moment, M. Poirot. I remember, the girl who brought that prescription, she said something about having to go on to the English chemist. You might try there.' I did. Once more enforcing my official status, I got the information I wanted. On the day before M. Droulard's death they had made up a prescription for Mr John Wilson. Not that there was any making up about it.

They were simplylittle tablets of trinitrine.

I asked if I might see some. He showed me them, and my heart beat faster - for the tiny tablets were of chocolate. 'It is a poison?' I asked.

'No, monsieur.' 'Can you describe to me its effect?' 'It lowers the blood-pressure. It is given for some forms of heart trouble - angina pectoris for instance. It relieves the arterial tem4on. In arteriosclerosis - ' I interrupted him. 'Ma foil This rigmarole says nothing to me.

Does it cause the face to flush?' 'Certainly it does.' 'And supposing I ate ten - twenty of your little tablets, what then?' 'I should not advise you to attempt it,' he replied drily.

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