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probably sees a lot of office patients in the afternoon, does operating in the morning and makes hospital visits after that."
    Della Street got the number; asked Gertie in the outer office for an outside line, dialed the number and again nodded to Perry Mason.
    Mason picked up the telephone, said, "How do you do? This is Perry Mason, an attorney. I know that Dr. Alton is very busy and that this is just before the busiest time of the afternoon, but it is quite important that I speak with him briefly concerning a matter which may affect a patient of his."
    "Perry Mason, the lawyer?" the feminine voice asked.
    "That's right."
    "Oh, I'm quite sure he'd want to talk with you personally. He's busy at the moment, but I'll interrupt him and-Can you hang on to the line for a few moments?"
    "I'll be glad to," Mason said.
    There was a period of silence. Then a tired, slightly impatient voice said, "Yes, this is Dr. Ferris Alton talking."
    "Perry Mason, the attorney," the lawyer told him. "I wanted to ask you a few questions about a patient of yours."
    "What sort of questions, and who is the patient?"
    "Lauretta Trent," Mason said. "You've had her hospi~ talized several times within the last few months."
    "Well?" Dr. Alton asked, and this time the note of impatience was quite apparent in his voice.
    "Can you tell me the nature of the malady?"
    "I can not!" Dr. Alton snapped.
    "Very well, then," Mason said. "I can perhaps tell you something which will be of interest. I have reason to believe that Lauretta Trent made a will; that this will was executed in the office of an attorney by the name of Delano Bannock; that the attorney is now deceased; that persons are interested in surreptitiously obtaining a copy of that will; that some of the persons associated with Lauretta Trent may be taking an active interest in a search of this kind.
    "Now then, I am asking you this. Are you completely satisfied with your diagnosis in the case of Lauretta Trent?"
    "Certainly. Otherwise I wouldn't have discharged her."
    "I understand, generally," Mason said, "that she had a gastroenteric disturbance."
    "Well, what of it?"
    "And," Mason said, "I have before me several of the authorities on forensic medicine and toxicology. I find that it is generally agreed that cases of arsenic poisoning are seldom diagnosed by the attending physician, since the symptoms are those of a gastroenteric disturbance.
    "You're crazy," Dr. Alton said.
    "Therefore," Mason went on, "I think you will understand my position when I ask you if there were abdominal cramps, cramps in the calves of the legs, a burning sensation in the stomach and-"
    "Good God!" Dr. Alton interrupted.
    Mason ceased talking, waiting for the doctor to say something.
    There was a long period of silence over the phone.
    "No one would possibly want to poison Lauretta Trent," Dr. Alton said.
    "How do you know?" Mason asked.
    There was another period of silence.
    "What's your interest in this matter?" Dr. Alton asked at length.
    "My interest is purely incidental," Mason said. "I can assure you that while I am representing a client, that client has no interests adverse to those of Lauretta Trent and there is no reason why you could not make any statement to me that you can make without disclosing a privileged professional confidence."
    Dr. Alton said, "You've given me something to think about, all right, Mason. Her symptoms had a great deal in common with those of arsenic poisoning. You're so right, physicians who are called in on cases of this sort almost never suspect the possibilities of homicidal poisoning. The cases are almost invariably given a diagnosis of enteric disturbance."
    "That," the lawyer told him, "is why I'm calling you."
    "Do you have some suggestions?" Dr. Alton asked.
    "Yes," Mason said. "I would suggest that you get a sample of her hair pulled out by the roots, if possible. And, if possible, some cuttings of the fingernails. Let's have them analyzed for arsenic and see if we get a positive