"He is outside, sir—waiting."
"Perhaps I had better examine into this myself," said the Doctor, frowning. "Bedelle is a good boy—a bit of a dreamer, but a good, reliable boy. Mr. Tapping, you may return to the Kennedy and quiet them. I shall be over later. Keep Bedelle waiting—outside."
"Jim," said Professor Rootmeyer, the distinguished chemist, "there are only two things in God's universe can produce a smell like that—a dead Indian and butyl mercaptan."
The Doctor immediately discarded the first hypothesis.
"Frank, you've hit it. It is butyl mercaptan," he said, laughing.
"Well, how did you know?"
"I remember once when I was a shaver—"
"Go on," said Professor Rootmeyer as the Doctor came to a hurried stop.
"H'm, we are living in the present," said the Doctor after a second thought.
He rose and went to the doorstep.