text: But in her hurry to be in time for the village entertainment Mrs. Inglethorp forgot to take her medicine , and the next day she lunched away from home , so that the last ” and fatal ” dose was actually taken twenty-four hours later than had been anticipated by the murderer ; and it is owing to that delay that the final proof ” the last link of the chain ” is now in my hands . " Amid breathless excitement , he held out three thin strips of paper .
  
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  The fatal dose was not taken when the murderer thought it would be .