Page:The Great Secret.djvu/69

Rh "Was," answered Philip. "He can be no longer husband of yours."

"It is pretty effective this invention of yours, doctor," said another voice.

"Yes," replied the first voice. "I had no desire to inflict more pain then was needful for our purpose. Adela was a traitress, although she was only one of us through the link of matrimony, and therefore could not be judged with the same severity as we condemn traitors who give their bond, yet she had to die, therefore, for her sake, I rendered the fumes perfectly painless. The poor people here have gone without the slightest knowledge of how things went. It was a rapid passage and an easy one," said Doctor Fernandez quietly. "The forces of Nature were quenched instanter, and the spirits were freed without a single pang. No one could possibly have escaped."

"Are you certain of this, doctor?" asked the other voice.

"Certain, my friend. The fumes are so volatile that they spread instantly, the moment the bomb has exploded, and evaporate as quickly, after they have done their work. I have allowed thirty minutes to elapse before I brought you here. Ten minutes would have been sufficient, yet I did not wish to endanger the valuable lives of my confreres, therefore I have made you pause before advancing for thirty minutes exactly."

"Then you think no one has escaped," inquired the voice.

"Certainly not," said the doctor. "Here lies my poor wife, who would take sides against me. She is not much mutilated, poor thing. To-morrow we will bury the dead."