"The deuce he has!" I cried. "Let me see him at once."
I was thereupon conducted to his cabin, which was on the port side of the vessel, at the further end of the saloon. I found the patient stretched on his back in his bunk, holding an empty laudanum bottle in his hand.
One moment's examination showed me that life was extinct; he had been dead nearly an hour. In this fashion had Alie's difficulty been solved for her, and, perhaps, all things considered, though it seems rather a cruel thing to say, in the best possible manner for all parties.
"Is there no chance at all of saving him?" asked Walworth, who had been watching me intently during my examination.
"Not one!" I answered. "Ebbington's gone where even the Beautiful White Devil's vengeance won't reach him. Poor devil! Fancy coming into the world for such a fate as this!"
"Humph! Frightened out of his senses, I expect. Well, now, I suppose I must go and tell her ladyship. I'm sorry, doctor, to have troubled you in vain."
"Don't mention it. I'm only sorry nothing could be done. Good-night!"
"Good-night!"
I drew the blanket over the face, and then locking the door behind me, went back to my own cabin to think it all out. One thing became perfectly plain to me when I examined my medical chest—and that was, Ebbington's reason for being in my berth.
CHAPTER XI.