"So the conductor says."
Avery hurried forward toward the berth where Connery was standing beside the surgeon. Connery turned toward him.
"I sent for you, sir, because you are the companion of the man who had this berth."
Avery pushed past him, and leaped forward as he looked past the surgeon. "What has happened to Mr. Dorne?"
"You see him as we found him, sir." Connery stared down nervously beside him.
Avery leaned inside the curtains and recoiled. "He's dead!"
"The doctor hasn't made his examination yet; but, there seems no doubt he's dead." Connery was very pale but controlled.
"He's been murdered!"
"It looks so, Mr. Avery. Yes; if he's dead, he's certainly been murdered," Connery agreed. "This is Doctor Douglas Sinclair, a Chicago surgeon. I called him just now to make an examination; but since Mr. Dorne seems to have been dead for some time, I waited for you before moving the body. You can tell,"—Connery avoided mention of President Jarvis' name,—"tell any one who asks you, Mr. Avery, that you saw him just as he was found."
He looked down again at the form in the berth, and Avery's gaze followed his; then, abruptly, it turned away. Avery stood clinging to the curtain, his eyes darting from one to another of the three men.