!" he exclaimed in a whisper. "Him! Why, he looked the picture of
health last night. I noticed that of him, anyway!"

"He's dead now," said Allerdyke. "He's lying there dead. Come in!"

The door along the corridor from which the man of the shock head and
great beard had looked out, opened again, and the big head was protruded.
Its owner, seeing the two standing there, came out.

"Anything wrong?" he asked, advancing towards them in his pyjamas. "If
there's any illness, I'm a medical man. Can I be of use?"

Allerdyke turned sharply, looking the stranger well over. He was not
sure whether the man was an Englishman or a foreigner; he fancied that
he detected a slightly foreign accent. The tone was well-meaning, and
even kindly.

"I'm obliged to you," replied Allerdyke, in his characteristically
blunt fashion. "I'm afraid nobody can be of use. The truth is, I came
to join my cousin here, and I find him dead. Seems to me he's been
dead some time. As you're a doctor, you can tell, of course. Perhaps
you'll come in?"

He led the way back into the bedroom, the other two following closely
behind him. At sight of the dead man the bearded stranger uttered a sharp
exclamation.

"Ah!" he said. "Mr. Allerdyke!"

"You knew him, then?" demanded Marshall. "You've met him?"

The other, who had stooped over the body, bestowing a light touch on
face and hand, looked up and nodded.

"I came over with him from Christiania," he answered. "I met him
there--at a hotel. I had several conversations with him. In fact, I
warned him."

"Warned him? Of what!" asked Allerdyke.

"Over-exertion," replied the doctor quietly. "I saw symptoms of
heart-strain. That was why I talked with him. I gathered from what he
told me that he was a man who lived a very strenuous life, and I warned
him against doing too much. He was not fitted for it."

"Good Lord!" exclaimed Allerdyke, with obvious impatience. "Why, I always
considered him as one of the fittest men I ever knew!"

"Perhaps you did," said the doctor. "Laymen, sir, do not see what a
trained eye sees. The proof in his case is--there!"

He pointed to the dead man, at whom the night-porter was staring with
astonished eyes.

Allerdyke stared, too, or seemed to stare. In reality, he was gazing into
space, wondering about what had just been said.

"Then you think he died a natural death?" he asked, suddenly turning on
his companion. "You don't think there's--anything wrong?"

The doctor s