He told her of the four little pellets and the glass of water.

At that time she treated the matter lightly.

The next day he began his sly, persistent campaign against what he was pleased to call her inhumanity; he did not credit her with scruples.

There was something Machiavellian in the sufferer's scheming.

He declared that there could be no criminal intent on her part, therefore her conscience would never be afflicted.