or Bartholomew, firmly.
"I won't lend myself to a plot to inveigle this poor boy, to ruin his
life--"

"And I demand it--in the name of the Law." He motioned to Petrie and
Hammond, who through the whole length of the inquiry had stood with
Dollops, beside the doorway. They came forward swiftly. "Arrest Doctor
Bartholomew for treating the Law with contempt--"

"But, I say, Mr. Headland, this is a damned outrage!"

Cleek held up a hand.

"Yes," he said, "I agree with you. But a very necessary one. Besides"--he
smiled suddenly into the seamed, anxious face of the man--"who knows but
that bullet may prove Sir Nigel's innocence? Who knows but that it is not
the same kind as lie now in this deadly little thing here in my hand? It
lies with you, Doctor. Must I arrest him now, and take him off to the
public jail to await trial, or will you give him a sporting chance?"

The doctor looked up into the keen eyes bent upon him, his own equally
keen. He did not know whether he liked this man of the law or not.
Something of the man's personality, unfortunate as had been its
revelation during this past trying hour, had caught him in its thrall. He
measured him, eye for eye, but Cleek's never wavered.

"I've no instruments," he said at last, hedging for time.

"I have plenty--upstairs. I have dabbled a little in surgery myself, when
occasion has arisen. I'll fetch them in a minute. You will?"

The doctor stood up between the two tall policemen who had a hand upon
either shoulder. His face was set like a mask.

"It's a damned outrage, but I will," he said.

Dollops was gone like a flash. In the meantime Cleek cleared the room. He
sent Merriton off to the smoking room in charge of Petrie and Hammond,
and Borkins with them--though Borkins was to be kept in the hallway, away
from his master's touch and voice.

Cleek, Mr. Narkom, and the doctor remained alone in the room of death,
where the doctor set to his gruesome task. Outside, Constable Roberts's
burly voice could be heard holding forth in the hall upon the fact that
he'd been after a poacher on Mr. Jimmeson's estate over to Saltfleet, and
wasn't in when they came for him.

And the operation went quietly on....

... In the smoking room, with Hammond and Petrie seated like deaf mutes
upon either side of him, Merriton reviewed the whole awful affair from
start to finish, and felt his heart sink like lead in his breast. Oh,
what a fool he had been to have these men down here