"It made him dissatisfied, they say, as well as surly and unsociable; but he stuck it out even after his poor wife died, and until the day of the murder."
"Murder?" in a tone of mild surprise.
"Was it not murder?" she asked, quickly.
He gave his shoulders a quiet shrug.
"The physician pronounced it heart disease, I believe."
"What physician?"
"Eh? Why, one who was fishing in the neighborhood for trout, and staying at the hotel. Old Dr. Jackson was in Huntington at the time, I remember."
The girls exchanged significant glances, and West noted them and smiled again.
"That murder theory is a new one to me," he said; "but I see now why it originated. The employment of a strolling physician would give color to the suspicion."
"What do you think, sir?" asked Patsy, who had been watching the man's expression closely.