Then Dr. MacArthur realized he had expressed an opinion himself....
“What is your conclusion, gentlemen?” he hurried to say.
“Mistake to form one without an examination of the witnesses, I think ... if you can call them that ... suh,” Dr. Barton interposed.
“Quite. Ethridge and I decided upon that during the autopsy. And I have arranged with my secretary to call them quietly ... and separately ... in order to avoid.... We would have questioned them minutely this morning; but the seriousness of our decision ... whatever it is ... must be a responsibility we all bear. D’y’see?”
“The night student nurse on Ward B is waiting. Shall I have her brought in, gentlemen?”
Hoffbein sensed a suppressed motion of Cub Sterling’s, a slight movement in the chair, an intangible gathering of forces.
“Isn’t this rather cruel?” Dr. Harrison suggested.
“Terribly. But how else will we ever...?”
Princeton Peters interrupted Dr. MacArthur.
“Murder is cruel, too.”