As it began to grow dark a lamp was set upon the table and a couple
of candles on the sideboard; for the night was perfectly pure,
starry, and windless. Light overflowed besides from the door and
window in the verandah, so that the garden was fairly illuminated
and the leaves twinkled in the darkness.
For perhaps the tenth time Miss Vandeleur entered the house; and on
this occasion she returned with the coffee-tray, which she placed
upon the sideboard. At the same moment her father rose from his
seat.
"The coffee is my province," Francis heard him say.
And next moment he saw his supposed father standing by the
sideboard in the light of the candles.
Talking over his shoulder all the while, Mr. Vandeleur poured out
two cups of the brown stimulant, and then, by a rapid act of
prestidigitation, emptied the contents of a tiny phial into the
smaller of the two. The thing was so swiftly done that even
Francis, who looked straight into his face, had hardly time to
perceive the movement before it was completed. And next instant,
and still laughing, Mr. Vandeleur had turned again towards the
table with a cup in either hand.
"Ere we have done with this," said he, "we may expect our famous
Hebrew."
It would be impossible to depict the confusion and distress of
Francis Scrymgeour. He saw foul play going forward before his
eyes, and he felt bound to interfere, but knew not how.
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