"Ah!" said Jerce, bitterly, "if my directions had only been attended to, the assassin would not have been able to enter the house. I look upon Wentworth as responsible in some measure for the crime."
"Oh, no! no!" expostulated Anthony. "Wentworth did not know that Horran's life was threatened. We ought to have told him all."
Jerce shook his head, and still condemned Wentworth. When that doctor appeared out of the death-chamber, where he had been examining the body, he and Jerce had a wordy argument. Jerce blamed Wentworth for not leaving the window closed, as Jerce had left it; and Wentworth complained that Jerce should have told him that the dead man's life was in danger. "Had I known that," said Wentworth, "I should have left the window closed."
"According to the etiquette of our profession," said Jerce, stiffly, "my treatment took precedence of yours. I closed the window yesterday before I went, and you should have left it closed."
"I believe in fresh air," snapped Wentworth, holding to his point.
"And in this disease I believe in warmth for the patient," retorted the more famous doctor. "Do you set your opinion against mine?"
"I have my own views about this disease," said Wentworth.
"You don't know what it is, sir!"
"Neither do you, if it comes to that, Dr. Jerce."
"I am just about to find out," said the great man, and stalked from the drawing-room, followed by the humbler member of the profession, who was still bent upon asserting his dignity.