“He has just turned twenty.”
“A very good age at which to begin a course of medical study. Do you reside in Washington?”
Nick replied that he did not, and he then proceeded to make a few consistent inquiries as to terms and accommodations for students, and he wound up with remarking:
“If you can spare the time, Doctor Dabney, or will have some one conduct me, I would like to inspect your college building and its various departments. I infer that you have no objection.”
“Quite the contrary,” Doctor Dabney said quickly. “I will be more than pleased to show you around. I am to give a lecture in the dissecting room in half an hour, but I shall have ample time to accompany you.”
“The dissecting room—that is one place I would specially like to visit,” said Nick, with manifest interest.
“We can conveniently begin with that, for it is in the annex,” said Doctor Dabney, pointing toward the rear of the brick building. “Come with me. Some of my students are beginning to arrive, you see. They are the ones whose homes are in or near the city. I at present have only twenty students who are quartered in the college, though we have accommodations for twice that number.”
Nick had already observed that several young men were entering from the side street, while others were gathered near a door leading into the annex. He was quick to detect, moreover, that a group of three in front of the garage and stable were betraying a much more serious interest in him while he approached with the physician. They were talking earnestly and viewing him with a[{13}] furtive, apprehensive scrutiny which, with their noticeable paleness, at once convinced him that they were the culprits he was seeking.
Nick evinced no special interest in them, however, but remarked to the physician, following up the topic under discussion:
“I suppose you find it difficult at times to obtain subjects for dissection?”