"Did she talk to you?"
"A little."
"What is the matter?"
"Fright. And I'm wondering whether merely being lost in the woods is enough to have terrified a girl like that? Because, apparently, she is as superb a specimen of healthy womanhood as this world manufactures once in a hundred years. How well do you know her?"
"We are very close friends."
"H'm. Did you suppose she was the kind of woman to be frightened at merely being lost in a civilised country?"
"No. She has more courage—of all kinds—than most women."
"Because," said the big doctor thoughtfully, "while she was unconscious it took me ten minutes to pry open her fingers and disengage a rather heavy dog-whip from her clutch…. And there was some evidences of blood on the lash and on the bone handle."
"What!" exclaimed Neville, amazed.
The doctor shrugged: "I don't know of any fierce and vicious dogs between here and Estwich, either," he mused.