"No; that is not the answer."
"Catalepsy?" guessed Major Jen, giving his mustache a nervous twist.
"Nor that, either."
Maurice, whose nerves were proof against such fantasies, laughed disbelievingly.
"I don't believe you know the answer to your own riddle," he said calmly.
Etwald shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know for certain, Mr. Alymer, but I can guess."
"Tell us your guess, doctor; as it interests me so nearly, I have a right to know."
"Bad news comes quickly enough in the telling," said the doctor, judicially, "so I shall say nothing more. Life in death is your fate, Mr. Alymer; unless," he added, with a swift and penetrating glance, "you choose to avert the calamity."
"Can I do so?"