the midday sun
Ah Moy approached gingerly . '' ` My beloved child , ' said Quong Lee , exhibiting the regulation tiny phial of romance containing a few drops of a white liquid , ` here is a poison ten-fold more subtle and deadly than that ejected from the fangs of the cruel serpent of the plain . The merest scratch from a weapon dipped in it will effect instant death . The victim curls up as a tender leaf in the midday sun . Yet it may be taken into the stomach with impunity . Strange , is it not ? The minute quantity that you see here is all that I possess , and I shall feel honored if you will accept it .