"Very good," said Jen, calmly. "Then I shall say nothing to any one about your very curious behavior. I shall work hard to secure the condemnation of this scoundrel. You can do your best to save him. But against you, or for you, I shall not open my mouth. At the trial I shall expect an explanation."
"You shall have it."
"But," added Jen, raising his head, "as until that explanation we are enemies--although not openly so--I shall require you to leave my house."
"I expected that you would do so," rejoined David, bowing his head. "Indeed, you can act in no other way. To-day I shall take lodgings in Deanminster and wait for the trial. I shall defend Etwald to the best of my ability, and then you can decide whether I am fit to re-enter this house."
"I can't understand you, sir," said Jen, with a sigh. "Whatever your reasons may be, I feel sure that I shall not approve of them."
"You approved of my reasons before, major. You shall approve of them again. In the meantime, until the trial, let us remain strangers."
He bowed, and without offering his hand--which it is very probable Major Jen would have refused to take--he left the room. When the door closed the older man sank into a chair and passed his hand across a brow moist with perspiration.
"There can be only one explanation," he muttered. "David is mad."
The result of this conversation was that David took up his residence in Deanminster near the jail, and saw Etwald frequently about his defense. The doctor assured him that he possessed sufficient power over Dido, by reason of owning the Voodoo stone, to prevent her from becoming a witness against him. Sarby was satisfied that if Dido did not appear to give evidence the case for the prosecution would fall through. She was the only witness of whom the barrister and the prisoner had any fear.
On his part, Major Jen, together with Arkel, built up a strong case against the man whom they fully believed to be the culprit. Search had been made in Etwald's house, but no traces of the dead body could be found. Its disappearance was almost as profound a mystery as the reason which had induced Etwald to steal it. The reasons for the theft of the devil-stick, for the murder of Maurice, were plain enough; but what had induced the doctor to make away with the corpse no one could discover. Etwald himself, even to his counsel, was silent on the subject.