“I am going back,” said the doctor. “I can do no more now, policeman. I will send a man to you.”
“Thankye, sir, if you will.”
“Of course you will give notice to the coroner, and there will be a post-mortem?”
“You leave that to me, sir; only send me one of our men.”
They were stealing out on tiptoe, when Capel went back and drew the heavy curtains right across the bed, to shut from the old warrior the horrors that lay in the middle of the room. The constable, too, stepped softly across to fasten the window. Then, following the others out, he closed and locked the door, turning round directly, ducking down, and involuntarily attempting to draw his truncheon, as he raised his left arm to ward off a blow.
“Bah!” he ejaculated. “Why, it’s a stature. Looked just as if it was going to knock one down.”