"Tell me what you know about this poor man ?" she said.

"I don't ask out of idle curiosity--I have a better motive than that.

Is he young or old ?" "Judging by his teeth," the superintendent answered, as if he had been speaking of a horse, "he is certainly young.

But his complexion is completely gone, and his hair has turned gray.

So far as we have been able to make out (when he is willing to speak of himself), these peculiarities in his personal appearance are due to a narrow escape from poisoning by accident.