“Yes, and he came very near accomplishing it this time,” the detective answered. “Fortunately, however, I was in a position to take a hand. Had I not done so, I’m afraid it would have been all up with you. Neither you nor any one else would have known of what had happened, and by the time you had begun to feel the effects of the injection you would probably have been beyond hope or help.”
He seated himself at the foot of the bed and quietly told the whole story. Before it was concluded, the lined, russet face of the miner had become sallow and beaded with perspiration. He leaned back on the pillow, his hands clasped behind his head.
“This is frightful; far more so than anything I dreamed of,” he said, in an uncertain voice. “How can I reward you for what you’ve done?”
The detective leaned forward and laid his hands on the covers over one of the raised knees.
“The only reward I ask for,” he said, “is to see you rouse yourself to the true situation. If there was any doubt before, certainly none can be present now. Your old partner is insane, and has fallen into the hands of one of the most cunning, unscrupulous rascals at large to-day. He was dangerous enough before when he only had the shrewdness of his own misguided instincts to aid him, but now you’re up against something much worse. You have to deal not only with a homicidal lunatic, but through him with a scientific criminal of the most dangerous sort. The combination is an extraordinary one, and has possibilities for evil that stagger the imagination.”
“Do you really believe that—about this doctor, I mean?”
“I’m sure of it. Long before I ever saw you I knew he was a scamp. That’s why I took a room here at the Windermere when I found that Stone was consorting with him.”
“Is it possible? I don’t understand it. Isn’t he the one I told you about—the one whom young Floyd recommended to Jimmy?”
“I take it for granted that he is. He has a reputation second to none in his line, and there’s no reason to suppose that your own friend was not sincere when he made the condition that Stone should visit Doctor Follansbee. If so, though, he has a great deal to learn about the scoundrelly head of St. Swithin’s Hospital.”
“But in what way is Follansbee a scoundrel? I should think he would have altogether too much to lose by crime, no matter what his secret tendencies were. What can he hope to gain by using poor Jim’s irresponsible enmity to me? He is jeopardizing a great position.”