"Ah! Which is——"
"That the whole thing was accidental, of course; just as Miss Blake affirmed it to be over the telephone."
"You believe that because she affirmed it?"
"Exactly."
"That won't go down with the coroner," struck in Conlon. "How could it? I'd like to think it, well enough—but it don't with me!"
"Wait, Conlon!" suggested Doctor Askew, sharply. "I'll conduct this inquiry just now, if you don't mind—and if Mr. Hunt will be good enough to answer."
"Why not?" I replied.
"Thank you. Conlon's point is a good one, all the same. Have you been able to form any reasonable notion of how such an accident could have occurred?"
"Yes."
"The hell you have!" exclaimed Conlon excitedly, not meaning, I think, to be sarcastic. "Why, you haven't even been in there"—he referred to Gertrude's boudoir—"or seen the body!"