"She shall not die if we can save her," simultaneously echoed both doctors.
They uttered the words in so strange a tone that Dorothy turned and looked at them in wonder.
At that moment Mr. Garner entered the room. His face was still very pale, but he was outwardly calm.
He was just in time to catch the last words, and he stepped up hurriedly to the doctor ere he could utter another word to Dorothy.
"Do you say that my betrothed is dying?" he cried, hoarsely, flinging himself on his knees beside the couch, on the side opposite to where Dorothy was.
"What we have to say had better be deferred for a few moments, until he is more calm and better able to bear the shock," said Doctor Schimpf, nodding in the direction where Mr. Garner knelt prostrated with grief.
Dorothy had become strangely calm, and both doctors noticed that she intently watched the actions of young Mr. Garner.
"I think I have unearthed the secret of the whole affair," whispered Doctor Crandall to his friend. "Watch the gaze Mrs. Brown is bending upon the betrothed lover of the girl who lies sick unto death!"
He motioned the doctor back into the recess of the bay-window.
"Let me finish my story here," he whispered under his breath. "This is what I would say: This strange woman in the black dress loves Mr. Garner. Ah! you start, my friend. So did I when the thought first flashed across my mind. Within the last few moments this thought has settled into a conviction. She is the only one interested in the death of Miss Staples. Look carefully into the chain of evidence I present to you, and you will have the same opinion that I have formed, no doubt.