Six and a Half Deadly Sins (Dr. Siri Paiboun #10) by Colin Cotterill

Author:Colin Cotterill
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Thrillers & Suspense, Fiction, Mom, Mystery & Detective
Publisher: Soho Press
Published: 2015-05-18T12:00:00+00:00

“Paris Green: According to the British Medical Journal of June 1877, it was reported that cases had been brought before the notice of the medical profession in which severe symptoms were experienced by patients who were being slowly poisoned with arsenic. This slow poisoning was going on at the time very extensively due to an arsenical coloring matter contained in the green calico lining of some bed curtains and the green muslin, which was much used for ladies’ dresses’ coloring. For months and months, this source of poison was not discovered, and the symptoms were treated as those of natural disease. This lining containing a green coloring pigment known as Paris Green was, doubtless, producing severe suffering. Dr. Debus, the Professor of Chemistry in Guy’s Hospital, made the examination of the bed curtain lining above alluded to; and thinking that other green-colored goods might also contain arsenic, he purchased some muslin of a very beautiful pale green tint for analysis. It proved to contain upwards of sixty grains of an arsenical compound (Scheele’s or Paris green) in every square yard, and this was so slightly incorporated that it could be dusted out with great facility.

“ ‘Imagine, sir,’ the doctor exclaimed, ‘what the atmosphere of a ballroom must be where these muslin fabrics are worn, and where the agitation of skirts consequent on dancing must be constantly discharging arsenical poison. The pallor and languor so commonly observed in those who pass through the labors of a London season are not to be altogether attributed to ill-ventilated crowded rooms and bad champagne, but are probably in great part owing to the inhalation of arsenical dust shaken from the clothing of a number of poisoners.”

Dtui looked at the green strand in the slide. She understood enough of the article to know what had happened to Teacher Ou. “Oh, Geung. That was it. We didn’t have colds. We were both suffering from arsenic poisoning. But why is it that I got over it, but she didn’t?”

Geung was holding up the slide to the light from the high louver window.

“It … it’s the same color,” he said.

“As what?”

“As the chair cover.”

Dtui scrambled to her feet and looked back at the chair. Geung was right. On the seat back was the half skirt that Siri had left behind for Ou to examine. She was using it as an attractive chair cover. She’d sat at this desk every day between lessons, exposing herself more and more to the poison. It wasn’t flu that had killed Teacher Ou. It was Paris Green. In ten days it had destroyed the system of a healthy young woman. What chance, at their age, would Siri and Daeng have?

It had been a long morning, and Siri and Daeng were feeling the worse for it. Daeng had been right. A good meal and a bath had improved her husband’s mood but not his health. Still they followed the treasure trail of pha sins with no idea where or into what it might lead them.

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