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Ralph Raymond's Heir
Ralph Raymond's Heir
CHAPTER I.
THE MYSTERIOUS CUSTOMER
A man of middle age, muffled up in an overcoat, got out of a Third Avenue car, just opposite a small drug shop. Quickly glancing up and down the street with a furtive look, as if he wished to avoid recognition from any passerby who might know him, he entered the shop.
It was a small shop, not more than twelve feet wide by eighteen deep. The only person in attendance was a young man approaching thirty years of age, his eyes and hair very light, and his features small and insignificant. He was the druggist's clerk, working on a small salary of ten dollars a week, and his name was James Cromwell.
He came forward as the person first named entered the shop.
"How can I serve you, sir?" he inquired in a respectful voice.
The person addressed drew from his pocket a piece of paper on which a name was inscribed.
"I want that," he said; "do you happen to have it?"
The shopman's face was tinged with a slight color as he read the name inscribed on the paper.
"You are aware, I suppose, that this is a subtle poison?" he said, interrogatively.
"Yes," said the other, in a tone of outward composure, "so I understand from the friend who desired me to procure it for him. Have you it, or shall I have to go elsewhere?"
"Yes; we happen to have it by the merest chance, although it is rather a rare drug in the materia medica. I will get it for you at once."