"Always blundering!" he upbraided himself. "Trying to be so all-shot smart, I overplayed my hand."
He got Dr. Garnet on the wire.
"Doctor," he said, in a tone that implored, "I'm obliged to see Webster today."
"Sorry, Mr. Hastings," came the instant refusal; "but it can't be done."
"For one question," qualified Hastings; "less than a minute's talk—one word, 'yes' or 'no'? It's almost a matter of life and death."
"If that man's excited about anything," Garnet retorted, "it will be entirely a matter of death. Frankly, I couldn't see my way clear to letting you question him if his escaping arrest depended on it. I called in Dr. Welles last night; and I'm giving you his opinion as well as my own."
"When can I see him, then?"
"I can't answer that. It may be a week; it may be a month. All I can tell you today is that you can't question him now."
With that information, Hastings decided to interview Judge Wilton.
"He's the next best," he thought. "That whispering across the woman's body—it's got to be explained, and explained right!"