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96 "What do you mean, sir?"

The specialists admit that the case baffled them from the start; that they advised every known method of cure, but the infection kept spreading; and that they virtually gave up the case at last," Odell explained mendaciously.

"Well, if McCutchen admitted that there is no harm in my telling you that it was unique in my experience. There was every evidence of blood-poison, and yet it failed to respond in the least degree to the treatment usual in such cases," Doctor Adams admitted. "The blood itself, of which we took many samples for analysis, did not reveal the slightest trace of any poison; and the patient, although suffering great pain, remained conscious almost until the last"

"I believe you took some of the embroidery silk with which Mrs. Lorne had been working at the time she pricked her finger; did you not?"

"Yes, Sergeant. I thought that perhaps some of the dye had entered the puncture, but upon analysis it proved to be harmless."

The detective leaned forward in his chair.

"You took the needle also, I believe?"

The physician nodded.

"It was as clean as though it had been sterilized. The infection must have come from something else. If people would only realize the necessity of sterilization of even the smallest abrasion or puncture the death-rate would be lowered to an astonishing degree."

"Perhaps there was something wrong with Mrs. Lorne's blood," Odell ventured "Could that have been a contributory cause. Doctor?*

"No," the other replied emphatically. "Her blood was