Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-07
CHAPTER Xxx.
Sir Demands Decision.


For fully week saw nothing of Am
bier.
Sir Bernard was unwell and remained
down at Hove; therefore I was compelled
to attend to his practice. There were sew
erA serious cases. the patients being peo-
pie Of note: thus was kept very busy.
- My friends silence was puzzlng: wrote
to him. but received no response. A wire
to his Office In the city ELECTED the fact
that Mr. Jevons was out Of town. Probably
he was still pursuing the inquiry he had so
actively taken up. Nevertheless, was dis
satisfied that he should leave me 50 en-
tirely in the dark as to his intentions
and discoveries.
I spent several hours shopping with her.
She was strangely nervous. and all the old
spontaneous gayety seemed to have left
her. She had read in the papers of the
curious connection between the death Of
the man Lame and that of her unfortunate
sister, and our conversation was mainly
upon the river mystery. Sometimes she
seemed Ill at ease with me, as though she
feared some discovery. Perhaps, however
it was merely my fancy.
loved her. She was all the world to me!
And yet in her eyes seemed to read some
hidden secret which she was endeavoring
with all the power at her command to con-
ceal- In such circumstances there was
bound to arise between us certain re-
serve that we had not before known. Her
conversation was carried on in a mechanic
al manner, as though distracted by her in
ner thoughts: and when. after having tea
together in Bond street, we drove to the
station and saw her off on her return to
Neneford. my mind was full Of dark appre-
tensions
Yes. That interview convinced me more
than ever that she was in some manner
cognizant of the truth. The secret exist
ence of old Mr.. Courtenay. the man whom
l myself had pronounced dead, was the
crowntng point of the strange affair; and
yet I felt by some inward intuition that
this fact was not unknown to her.
All the remarkable events Of that moonlit
night when I had followed husband and
wife along the river bank came back to me,
and saw wildly the old mans face, hag-
gard and drawn. just as 1t had been in life.
Surely there could be no stranger current
Seven Secrets. They were beyond explana-
tion-all OF them. l knew nothing. l had
seen results. but knew not their cause.
Nitrate Of amyl was not drug which a
costermonger would select with view to
committing suicide. Indeed, daresay few
of my readers, unless they are doctors or
chemists. have ever before heard of it.
Therefore my own conclusion, fully In
dorsed by the erratic Amber, was that the
poor fellow had been secretly poisoned.
Nearly fortnight passed. and / heard
nothing Of Amber. He was still tout of
town." Day by day passed, but nothing OF
nott trdHSpireu. or. berudTu WAS sun SUI
fering from slight touch Of sciatica at
home, and on visiting him one Sunday
found him confined to his bed, grumbling
and peevish. He was somewhat eccentric
in his miserly habits and his hatred OF
society, beyond doubt: and the absurdities
which his enemies attributed to him were
not altogether unfounded. But he had at
all events the rare quality of processing for
his profession a respect nearly akin to en-
thusiasm. Indeed, according to his views,
the faculty possessed almost infallible quail
tiles In confidence he had more than once
admitted to me that certain OF his COLI
leagues practicing in Harley street were
amazing donkeys: but he would never have
allowed any one else to say so. From the
moment man acquired that diploma which
gave him the right over life and death, that
man became in his eyes an august person-
age for the world at large. 1t was crime,
he thought, for a patient not to submit to
his decision. and certainly 1t must be adj
mitted that his success In the treatment OF