Wolfenden walked to the window, and raising the curtain, looked out. He gave vent to a little exclamation of relief as he saw a familiar dogcart draw up at the hall door, and Dr. Whitlett's famous mare pulled steaming on to her haunches. "It is Dr. Whitlett," he exclaimed. "He has followed you up pretty soon." The sheet which the physician was reading fluttered through his fingers. There was a very curious look in his face. He walked up to the window and looked out. "So it is," he remarked. "I should like to see him at once for half a minute--then I shall have finished. I wonder whether you would mind going yourself and asking him to step this way?" Wolfenden turned immediately to leave the room. At the door he turned sharply round, attracted by a sudden noise and an exclamation from Blatherwick. Dr. Wilmot had disappeared! Mr. Blatherwick was gazing at the window in amazement! "He's gone, sir! Clean out of the window--jumped it like a cat!" Wolfenden sprang to the curtains. The night wind was blowing into the room through the open casement. Fainter and fainter down the long avenue came the sound of galloping horses. Dr. Franklin Wilmot had certainly gone! Wolfenden turned from the window to find himself face to face with Dr. Whitlett. "What on earth is the matter with your friend Wilmot?" he exclaimed. "He has just gone off through the window like a madman!" "Wilmot!" the doctor exclaimed. "I never knew any one of that name in my life. The fellow's a rank impostor!" CHAPTER XVI GENIUS OR MADNESS? For a moment Wolfenden was speechless. Then, with a presence of mind which afterwards he marvelled at, he asked no more questions, but stepped up to the writing-table. "Blatherwick," he said hurriedly, "we seem to have made a bad mistake. Will you try and rearrange these papers exactly as the admiral left them, and do not let him know that any one has entered the room or seen them." Mr. Blatherwick commenced his task with trembling fingers. "I will do my best," he said nervously. "But I am not supposed to touch anything upon this table at all. If the admiral finds me here, he will be very angry." "I will take the blame," Wolfenden said. "Do your best." He took the country doctor by the arm and hurried him into the smoking-room. "This is a most extraordinary affair, Dr. Whitlett," he said gravely. "I presume that this letter, then, is a forgery?" The doctor took the note of introduction which Wilmot had brought, and adjusting his pince-nez, read it hastily through. "A forgery from the beginning to end," he declared, turning it over and looking at it helplessly. "I have never known any one of the name in my life!" "It is written on notepaper stamped with your address," Wolfenden remarked. "It is also, I suppose, a fair imitation of your handwriting, for Lady Deringham accepted it as such?" The doctor nodded.