Doctor Dabney heard him without a change of countenance.
“Well, yes, at times,” he admitted. “They can be obtained only through the proper authorities and by paying a fixed price. That is to say, of course, unless one resorts to felonious methods to get them,” he added, smiling significantly. “But I would not sanction anything of that kind.”
“I suppose not.”
“No, not for a moment,” Doctor Dabney declared.
Nick believed him. He saw plainly enough that the physician was not only a man of character, but also that he had too much at stake to have connived at such a crime as had been committed the previous night.
They had been following a driveway passing the garage and stable. In the latter a hostler was washing a covered wagon, and Nick glanced in and noted that the wheels had rubber tires.
A few more steps brought them to the annex of the brick building. A door leading into a broad corridor with a cement floor was wide open.
Instead of immediately entering, however, Doctor Dabney turned to another door some twelve feet to the right, remarking, while he opened it:
“Speaking of subjects for dissection, Mr. Ryder, I will begin with showing you where they are kept until wanted. The door in the rear leads directly into the dissecting room, where I give many of my lectures.”
Nick peered into the cold basement room which the physician disclosed. It was lighted with only a single narrow window, high in one of the walls. The door in the rear wall was closed.