human
It's up to you, District-Attorney Mackay, he said, with a great show of his ill feeling.
gpt
You practically forced me out of my own house. You sent my servants away. You put your own guards in charge, young, inexperienced deputies who don't know enough to come in when it's wet. Now you have me make this trip out here in business hours just to show me where a needle has been stuck in a curtain and where a pair of imported window sashes have been ruined.
human
It is necessary, Mr. Phelps, that you look over this room and see that nothing else has been disturbed; that there is no further damage. Moreover, I thought you might be interested, might wish to help us determine the identity of the intruder.
gpt
If there's any way I can really help you to do that --sarcastically--
human
I'll be delighted.
gpt
Were you here the night before the murder?
human
You know I seldom spend the night in Tarrytown. I have quarters in New York, at the club, and recently I have been spending all my time in New York, on account of the situation in the picture business.
gpt
You were not here the night before the murder, then?
human
No!
gpt
But you were out here yesterday before the actors arrived, before Manton or any of his technical staff and crew came?
human
I was out very early, to make sure the servants had the house ready. Phelps was red now.
gpt
Are you insinuating anything, Mackay?
human
Some one put the needle in the curtain before the company arrived. You probably were in the house at the time; or at the least your servants were. Whoever did was the one who murdered Stella Lamar.
gpt
And also, rejoined Phelps, tartly,
human
Are you sure of your servants? Are they reliable--
gpt
I never anticipated a murder and so I didn't question them as to their poisoning proclivities when I engaged them. But you know where they are and you can examine them. If I were you, Mackay--
human
Gentlemen!
gpt
Mr. Phelps, Kennedy's voice was soft, coaxing,
human
I don't think Mr. Mackay quite understands. It would be a great service to me if you would give the house a quick general inspection. You are familiar with the things here, enough to state whether they have been disturbed to any appreciable degree. You see, we do not know the interior arrangements as they were before this unfortunate happening.
gpt
That's just to cool him off a bit. I have everything I came to get right here.
human
What was the poison, Mr. Kennedy?
gpt
I think that it was closely allied to the cyanide groups in its rapacious activity.
human
But you haven't identified it yet?
gpt
No. So far I haven't the slightest idea of its true nature. It seems to have a powerful affinity for important nerve centers of respiration and muscular co-ordination, as well as possessing a tendency to disorganize the blood. I should say that it produces death by respiratory paralysis and convulsions. To my mind it is an exact, though perhaps less active, counterpart of hydrocyanic acid. But that is not what it is or I would have been able to prove it before this.
human
You'll say nothing of this?
gpt
I'll be silent, of course.