The detective saluted and retired, and in a few minutes a stretcher dismounted from its carriage was borne in by two constables and placed on the floor beside Morris’ corpse. But even now, prepared as I was, and knowing who the new arrival must be, I looked doubtfully at the pitiful effigy that lay before me so limp and passive that but an hour since had been a strong, courageous, resourceful woman. Not until the white wig, the cap, and the spectacles had been removed, the heavy eyebrows detached with spirit, and the dark pigment cleaned away from the eyelids, could I say with certainty that this was the corpse of Mrs. Morris.
“Well, Doctor,” said the Superintendent, when the wounded and the dead had been borne away and we were alone in the studio, “you have done your part to a finish, as usual, but ours is a bit of a failure. I should have liked to bring that fellow to trial.”
“I sympathize with you,” replied Thorndyke. “The gallows ought to have had him. But yet I am not sure that what has happened is not all for the best. The evidence in both cases—the D’Arblay and the Van Zellen murders—is entirely circumstantial and extremely intricate. That is not good evidence for a jury. A conviction would not have been a certainty either here or in America, and an acquittal would have been a disaster that I don’t dare to think of. No, Miller, I think that, on the whole, I am satisfied, and I think that you ought to be, too.”
“I suppose I ought,” Miller conceded, “but it would have been a triumph to put him in the dock, after he had been written off as dead and cremated. However, we must take things as we find them; and now I had better go and look over that house.”
With a friendly nod to me, he took himself off, and Thorndyke went off to notify the ladies that the intruders had departed.
As he returned with them I heard Marion cross-examining him with regard to my injuries and listened anxiously for his report.
“So far as I can see, Miss D’Arblay,” he answered, “the damage is confined to one or two muscles. If so, there will be no permanent disablement and he should soon be quite well again. But he will want proper surgical treatment without delay. I propose to take him straight to our hospital if he agrees.”
“Miss Boler and I were hoping,” said Marion, “that we might have the privilege of nursing him at our house.”
“That is very good of you,” said Thorndyke, “and perhaps you might look after him during his convalescence. But for the present he needs skilled surgical treatment. If it should not be necessary for him to stay in the hospital after the wound has been attended to, it would be best for him to occupy one of the spare bedrooms at my chambers, where he can be seen daily by the surgeon, and I can keep an eye on him. Come,” he added coaxingly, “let us make a compromise. You or Miss Boler shall come to the Temple every day for as long as you please and do what nursing is necessary. There is a spare room, of which you can take possession; and as to your work here, Polton will give you any help that he can. How will that do?”
Marion accepted the offer gratefully (with my concurrence), but begged to be allowed to accompany me to the hospital.