"Which it is," interposed Dr. Cooper, "purely hypothetical."
"Exactly. How could it be otherwise? But such conversations are most interesting to an outsider like myself. Supposing then, this not to be a hypothetical case, I would certainly be glad of any chance to be even with the person who has imposed upon me. Carrying the hypothesis further, what should you say became of the body of the--did you say a lady?"
"No, I don't think I said a lady; but let it be a lady, for the sake of argument."
"What became of the body--though that's a stupid question, because, of course, it was buried in the usual way?"
"It might not have been. There's such a thing as cremation."
What turn the conversation would have taken after this startling observation it is out of my power to say, for the slatternly wife of the doctor made her appearance here, and told my tipsy companion that a patient required his immediate attention.
An hour afterward I was once more in Lamb's Terrace.
CHAPTER XXI.
[BARBARA GIVES US SOME VALUABLE INFORMATION.]
"We thought you were lost," said Bob, and Barbara looked up with a smile, a sign that she regarded me as a friend.