Savagely the doctor shook his head.
"My buggy's in the stable."
The coroner's squeak was thinner, more irritating than ever.
"Then don't let the spooks get you, driving through the woods. Old folks say there are a-plenty there."
Bobby arose. He couldn't face the prospect of the man's squeaking again.
"We find nothing to laugh at in this situation," he said. "You're quite through?"
The coroner's eyes blazed.
"I'm through, if that's the way you feel. Goodnight." He added with a sharp maliciousness: "I leave my sympathy for whoever Howells has his eagle eye on."
Howells, when the doctor and the coroner had gone, excused himself with a humility that mocked the others:
"With your permission I shall write in the library until dinner."