CHAPTER I: THE UNKNOWN DEATH
I heard the clock strike one as I walked up the hospital steps. Ordinarily I would have been in bed and
asleep, but there was a case in which I was much interested, and Braile, my assistant, had telephoned me
of certain developments which I wished to observe. It was a night in early November. I paused for a
moment at the top of the steps to look at the brilliancy of the stars. As I did so an automobile drew up at
the entrance to the hospital.
As I stood, wondering what its arrival at that hour meant, a man slipped out of it. He looked sharply up
and down the deserted street, then threw the door wide open. Another man emerged. The two of them
stooped and seemed to be fumbling around inside. They straightened and then I saw that they had locked
their arms around the shoulders of a third. They moved forward, not supporting but carrying this other