"No, no. It is only making an expose, where none is necessary. I will not believe that she is so bad. You medical men are so prone to magnify symptoms." "Indeed?" said Leigh, who dared not look at the speaker, but bent once more over his patient. "You came and told me that your wife was dying." "His wife, sir?" cried the housekeeper, indignantly. "It's a wicked lie!" Garstang turned savagely upon the woman, but he had to face Leigh, who sprang to his feet with a wild exaltation making every pulse throb and thrill. "Not his wife!" he cried fiercely. "No, sir, and never would be." "Curse you!" roared Garstang, making at her; but Leigh thrust him back. "Then there has been foul play here." "How dare you?" cried Garstang. "I called you in to--But go on with your work, sir. Can you not see that the woman drinks?--she is mad drunk now. Hysterical, and does not know what she is saying. The lady is my wife, and I insist upon your attending to your professional duties or leaving the house. Is this the conduct of a physician?" "It is the conduct of a man, sir, who finds himself face to face with a scoundrel." "You insolent hound!" "John Garstang--" "John Garstang!" "Yes, John Garstang; you see I know you! It is true then that you have abducted this lady, or lured her into this place, where you have kept her secluded from her friends. There is no need to ask the reason. I can guess that." "You--you--" cried Garstang, ghastly now in his surprise. "Who are you that you dare to speak to me like this?" "I, sir, am the physician you called in to see his old patient, dying, I fear, from the effects of the drug you have administered," said Leigh, with unnatural calmness; "the man whose instinct tempts him to try and crush out your wretched life as he would that of some noxious beast. But we have laws, and whatever the result is here, my duty is to hand you over to the police." "Oh, doctor! doctor!" cried the woman wildly, from behind the couch. "Quick, quick! Look! Oh, my poor, poor child!" Leigh sprang back to the couch and fell upon his knees, for a violent twitching had convulsed the girl's motionless form. Garstang, his face wild with fear, stood gazing down over the doctor's shoulder, and then strode quickly to the back of the library, bent over a table, and took something from a drawer, before striding back, to stand looking on, trembling violently now, as he witnessed the strange convulsions, which gradually died out, and a low gasping sound escaped the sufferer's lips. Garstang drew a long, deep breath, turned quickly, and made for the door; but as he reached it Leigh's hand was upon his collar, and he was swung violently round and back into the room. He nearly fell, but recovered himself, and stood with his hand in his breast. "Stand away from that door," he cried.