he medical profession. That he would encounter a
terrific opposition he did not question for a moment. He was not in
the least sure that his case would be plain sailing. He saw himself,
his aunt, Chalmers, and, last and hardest to contemplate, Esther in the
witness-box--Esther, whose nerves were temporarily shattered by her
frightful experience.... Had Therese been a party to the attempt on
her life? Whether she had or not, she must have known about it and
condoned it.

Outside in the garden the wretched dog continued to howl. What
possessed the poor little creature? In the stillness of the early
morning the long-drawn, disconsolate sounds rose and tell with a
dirge-like hint of desolation. He must be silenced somehow; he would
disturb Esther.

Presently the howling ceased, and a second later Chalmers came up
bringing rolls and coffee, the dog at his heels, shivering and whining.

"I can't make out what's wrong with him, sir; he's regularly upset. He
wanted to come in, yet when I opened the door he stood there looking as
if he had something on his mind. Try to eat a bit, sir; you've been a
long time without proper food, and you've a hard day ahead of you."

Roger forced himself to drink a cup of coffee. It was true he had
given no thought to himself for days. He gazed unseeingly out of the
window at the acacias, glistening with the wet of last night's steady
rain, gloomy under the still grey sky. Oppression lay heavy upon his
spirit.

"Yes, Chalmers, there's a bad time ahead of us. If we don't look sharp
those two will find a way out."

"You think there's a chance of them escaping, sir?"

"Not that. I mean they may manage to be acquitted."

He put his hand absently on the rough black head of the Aberdeen, who
had cowered close to his leg, still faintly whimpering.

"Will they exhume Sir Charles's body, sir, do you think?"

"What would be the use? There would be nothing gained by that. My
father died of a well-known disease; as far as anyone could tell it was
a perfectly natural death. So would I have died a so-called natural
death if the doctor had succeeded in his plan against me. That was the
infernal cleverness of his scheme. Of course in the case of Miss
Rowe's detention it is a different matter, but even there we may not be
able to prove anything conclusive. We are up against an
extraordinarily clever man. Still, I don't yet know the extent of our
evidence against him; it may be ve