l
drooping forward in his chair, apparently half-asleep.

"Doctor," I said, "there is someone else here who is suffering from
shock," and I motioned toward the limp figure. "Or perhaps it's
something worse than that."

The doctor stepped quickly to the chair and looked down at its
occupant. Then he put his hand under Swain's chin, raised his head and
gazed intently into his eyes. Swain returned the gaze, but plainly in
only a half-conscious way.

"It looks like a case of concussion," said the doctor, after a moment.
"The left pupil is enlarged," and he ran his hand rapidly over the
right side of Swain's head. "I thought so," he added. "There's a
considerable swelling. We must get him to bed." Then he noticed the
bandaged wrist. "What's the matter here?" he asked, touching it with
his finger.

"He cut himself on a piece of glass," Godfrey explained. "You'd better
take him over to my place, where he can be quiet."

"I've got my car outside," said the doctor, and together he and I
raised Swain from the chair and led him to it.

He went docilely and without objection, and ten minutes later, was
safely in bed, already dozing off under the influence of the opiate
the doctor had given him. "He'll be all right in the morning," the
latter assured me. "But he must have got quite a blow over the head."

"I don't know what happened to him," I answered. "You'll come back
with me, won't you?"

"Yes; I may be useful," and he turned the car back the way we had
come. "Besides," he added, frankly, "I'm curious to learn what
happened in that house to-night."

He had certainly shown himself equal to emergencies, I reflected; and
I liked his voice and his manner, which was cool and capable.

"My name is Lester," I said. "I'm a lawyer staying with Mr. Godfrey.
We heard Miss Vaughan scream and ran over to the house, but we don't
know any more than you do."

"My name is Hinman, and I'm just a country doctor," said my companion;
"but if I can be of any help, I hope you'll call upon me. Hello!" he
added, as we turned through the gate into the grounds of Elmhurst, and
he threw on the brake sharply, for a uniformed figure had stepped out
into the glare of our lamps and held up his hand.

The police had arrived.

CHAPTER IX

FIRST STEPS

We found a little group of men gathered about the chair in which sat
the huddled body. Two of them I already knew. One was Detective-sergeant
Simmonds, and the other Coroner Goldberger,