"It is not possible you have been robbed! I believe that all my servants are honest!"
He thought that the old physician must be losing his senses when he answered, with terrible gravity:
"Nevertheless, I was nearly robbed of my life last night!"
"Great heavens!"
Doctor Jay's brow was beaded with damp as he loosened his cravat and collar, and pointed to his bared neck.
Edmund Clarke leaned forward, and saw on the old man's throat some dark purple discolorations, like finger prints.
"Have you in your household any persons subject to vicious aberrations of mind?" demanded Doctor Jay.
"No one!" answered his startled host, and he was astounded when his guest replied:
"Nevertheless, a fiend in human form entered this room last night under cover of the darkness and attempted to murder me by vicious strangling!"