Sabin said sharply. "What does this mean?"
There was no answer. Mr. Sabin moved quickly forward, and then
stopped short. He had seen dead men, and he knew the signs. Duson
was stone dead.
Mr. Sabin's nerve answered to this demand upon it. He checked his
first impulse to ring the bell, and looked carefully on the table
for some note or message from the dead man. He found it almost at
once--a large envelope in Duson's handwriting. Mr. Sabin hastily
broke the seal and read:
"Monsieur,--I kill myself because it is easiest and best. The
poison was given me for you, but I have not the courage to become
a murderer, or afterwards to conceal my guilt. Monsieur has been
a good master to me, and also Madame la Comtesse was always
indulgent and kind. The mistake of my life has been the joining
the lower order of the Society. The money which I have received
has been but a poor return for the anxiety and trouble which have
come upon me since Madame la Comtesse left America. Now that I
seek shelter in the grave I am free to warn Monsieur that the
Prince of S. L. is his determined and merciless enemy, and that
he has already made an unlawful use of his position in the Society
for the sake of private vengeance. If monsieur would make a
powerful friend he should seek the Lady Muriel Carey.
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