CHAPTER XXIV
THE DEADLY PHIAL
It was the famous physician, the man whose hate for Americans was
so notorious, the man with whom they had already had unpleasant
encounters, the man who had so often shot venomous looks at Frank
and his comrades as they passed and yet who of late had worn an
air so jubilant.
It was his house then to which this mysterious passage afforded
secret entrance, that entrance which the Army Boys had felt sure
was used by conspirators and assassins. What did it all mean?
The doctor approached one of the retorts in which some concoction
was bubbling and examined it carefully, reducing the heat a little
as he glanced at the thermometer. Then he walked over to a row of
phials on one of the shelves and handled them almost caressingly.
One of them he pressed with an almost rapturous gesture to his
breast, at the same time breaking out in a strain of mingled
eulogy and denunciation. The eulogy seemed to be for the phial,
the denunciation for the "accursed Americans," which phrase Frank
heard him repeat several times.
The doctor then replaced the phials on the shelf and picked up an
evening paper printed in German that was lying on a chair.
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