Generally, they form a residue on any surface that even a person of middling sensibility will notice in time to avoid. It has taken me years to create a highly lethal contact poison for use on glass, a surface so difficult to taint as to be virtually above suspicion. Indeed, the Spanish poisoner hired to replace my father had not hesitated to touch it. He lived mere minutes after doing so. Confronting the problem posed by contact poison, Mother Benedette had employed the time-honored solution: Do not depend on the victim touching anything but instead touch the victim. Of course, that carries certain obvious dangers for the poisoner, but sensible precautions usually suffice. The best of these is to use gloves dipped in a solution of alum and sulfate of lead to discourage the passage of liquids inward to the skin. Additionally, it is prudent to encase the hands in melted wax before donning the gloves. To be perfectly fair, Mother Benedette had not actually poisoned me. I was merely drugged.
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