snapped shut, but other than that, there was no reaction. She shook him again, but with no further result. Her eyes darted to his outstretched hand, and she gasped. Chadwick was beginning to pull.

Toffee sucked in a deep breath. "I ... I'll tell!" she faltered. "I know the formula. I'll give it to you."

The pliers came apart and Mr. Culpepper's small, veined hand fell limply to the little man's side. Toffee found herself instantly and confusingly confronted by Chadwick and Agatha.

"You know the formula?" Agatha said. "You'd best not be lying."

"Why ... I...." Toffee stammered.

"Speak up!" Chadwick snapped.

"I know all about it," Toffee said. The words came in a rush. "I was his human subject. He experimented on me in his laboratory. You'd never guess that I'm really twenty years old, would you?"

The two looked at her suspiciously.

"She's lying," Agatha said. "She couldn't be twenty."

"Oh, yes," Toffee insisted, warming up to the lie. "Mr. Culpepper lured me into his laboratory with a stick of candy when I was only eight years old. I haven't aged a day since."

"Might be right at that," Chadwick mused. "After all, you'll have to admit that her language is rather advanced for just a child ... in an appalling sort of way."

"Can you prove what you say?" Agatha asked.

Toffee hesitated. "Well," she said presently, "in a way, I can. There's another thing about Fixage that you don't know."

"Yes?" Chadwick and Agatha chorused. "What's that?"

Toffee beckoned them closer and whispered, "It causes you to be immortal."

"Oh, no," Agatha said. "That's going too far."

"I'll prove it," Toffee said. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to loan me a gun for a moment?"

"Certainly not," Chadwick said. "These pistols came from the home of a duke. The fellow would never forgive us if we loaned them."

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