of both the men who witnessed it. When the door closed
on her, they recoiled instinctively from advancing further in the dark.
The doctor's reluctance was the first to express itself. He attempted
to obtain the patient's permission to withdraw until the letter was
completed. The patient refused.

Mr. Neal spoke next at greater length and to more serious purpose.

"The doctor is accustomed in his profession," he began, "and I am
accustomed in mine, to have the secrets of others placed in our keeping.
But it is my duty, before we go further, to ask if you really understand
the extraordinary position which we now occupy toward one another. You
have just excluded Mrs. Armadale, before our own eyes, from a place in
your confidence. And you are now offering that same place to two men who
are total strangers to you."

"Yes," said Mr. Armadale, "_because_ you are strangers."

Few as the words were, the inference to be drawn from them was not of a
nature to set distrust at rest. Mr. Neal put it plainly into words.

"You are in urgent need of my help and of the doctor's help," he said.
"Am I to understand (so long as you secure our assistance) that the
impression which the closing passages of this letter may produce on us
is a matter of indifference to you?"

"Yes. I don't spare you. I don't spare myself. I _do_ spare my wife."

"You force me to a conclusion, sir, which is a very serious one," said
Mr. Neal. "If I am to finish this letter under your dictation, I must
claim permission--having read aloud the greater part of it already--to
read aloud what remains, in the hearing of this gentleman, as a
witness."

"Read it."

Gravely doubting, the doctor resumed his chair. Gravely doubting, Mr.
Neal turned the leaf, and read the next words:

"There is more to tell before I can leave the dead man to his rest. I
have described the finding of his body. But I have not described the
circumstances under which he met his death.

"He was known to have been on deck when the yacht's boats were seen
approaching the wreck; and he was afterward missed in the confusion
caused by the panic of the crew. At that time the water was five feet
deep in the cabin, and was rising fast. There was little doubt of his
having gone down into that water of his own accord. The discovery of his
wife's jewel box, close under him, on the floor, explained his presence
in the cabin. He was known to have seen help approaching, and it was
quite likely th