I certainly hoped that it was. He little knew that that fate in its concrete form was sitting opposite to him. “What do you think was the cause of death, Israel?” “Nobody seems quite to know.” “He looked just that sinewy, tough sort of man who was likely to live for ever.” I was silent. “There must have been something organically wrong,” Mr. Gascoyne continued. I was still silent, meditating whether I should tell him what the doctor had hinted at as regards poison. I decided that it would be better to do so. It would look very strange if he should discover that the doctor had already suggested such a thing to me, and that I had ignored the fact. “Dr. Phillimore thinks that death must have been caused by some violent poison.” “Poison? Impossible!” “So I said. I don’t suppose he meant for one moment that anybody had poisoned him.” I regretted this remark. It might rouse suspicions in his brain. The nervous analysis of everything I said was becoming automatic. “He was taken ill directly after dinner, you say?” “When we left the dining-room.” “If it had been anything he had eaten you would all have been taken ill as well.” “It would seem so. At least, I don’t know. There may have been some dish which we others did not touch.” “It is all very mysterious, but it is quite possible that the doctors may be wrong.” “Oh, quite,” I said dryly. The rest of the drive he spent in asking after Lady Gascoyne, and for other details of the affair. As we entered the great hall I saw the two doctors at a distant window in earnest consultation. They came forward and greeted Mr. Gascoyne as the Earl. They had evidently been waiting for him. Dr. Phillimore, the younger of the two, who had been called in in consultation, said at once: “Dr. Grange is anxious for a private interview with you when you are at liberty.” I had from the first felt nervous of Dr. Phillimore. He was evidently a man of exceptional intellectual power. He had a massive, square forehead, and a strong resolute face with an expression of great alertness. Even now, although he had had no rest for twenty-four hours, he showed few traces of fatigue. Dr. Grange, on the other hand, looked worn and jaded to a degree, and would, I am sure, had he been left to himself, have retired to rest before taking any further steps in the matter. I did not know that, whilst I had been out, Dr. Phillimore had been making extensive inquiries, and that he had already placed under lock and key everything which had been on the table the night before. It appeared that he had once before been concerned in a poisoning case. Decidedly my good fortune had been on the wane without my knowing it. I think his previous experience had somewhat obsessed him with the idea that poisoners were everywhere. Only in this way can I account for the unerring ability with which he followed up every clue.