His Other Wife: A Novel — page 63: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

MISSIONARY WORK, © °° 55 - dark tissue paper. He then put it back into his pocket, but kept his fingers on it hesitatingly, as if reluctant to leave it there. Afterward he glanced: uneasily all round the chamber, examining different objects curiously.. Evidently he was dissatisfied with his vest pocket as a repository for the empty little flask, and just as evidently he was seeking a more convenient place for it. His eye rested a moment on the open fire-place, where there was neither fire nor fuel to kindle one; the time was summer. TZhaf would not do. Each spot seemed to present an equally uninviting pros- pect, till finally he glanced upward to the aie faded tester of the bed canopy. From the fringe of dust around the edge of this canopy, Mr. Croft opined that the housemaid’s besom seldom aimed so high, and, by a light movement of his arm, he quickly tossed the little vial upward over the cornice of the tester. It fell noiselessly amid the layers of dust that too often attest the sacredness.in which the ‘‘ best room” of the house is held. Stepping to the bedside, Mr. Croft saw that his wife had already fallen asleep. A few hours later the household were aroused by the in- telligence that Mrs. Croft was dead] iin Eomicbooks: (E(@) 3