The physician stepped swiftly to the hall door, opened it, and listened. All was still. Without further circumvention he went to the safe, and examined it. Of a primitive make and simple design, it afforded little more security than protection against light-fingered servants. To his skill it was a mere toy, a thing of straw and paste-board. The money was as good as in his hands. With his clamps he could draw the knob, punch the tumblers and open the door in two minutes. Perhaps, in another way, he might open it in one. Kneeling upon the floor, he laid his ear to the combination plate, and slowly turned the knob. As he had surmised, it was locked at only a "day com."--upon one number. His keen ear caught the faint warning click as the tumbler was disturbed; he used the clue--the handle turned. He swung the door wide open. The interior of the safe was bare--not even a scrap of paper rested within the hollow iron cube. Doctor James rose to his feet and walked back to the bed. A thick dew had formed upon the dying man's brow, but there was a mocking, grim smile on his lips and in his eyes. "I never--saw it before," he said, painfully, "medicine and--burglary wedded! Do you--make the--combination pay--dear Doctor?" Than that situation afforded, there was never a more rigorous test of Doctor James's greatness. Trapped by the diabolic humor of his victim into a position both ridiculous and unsafe, he maintained his dignity as well as his presence of mind. Taking out his watch, he waited for the man to die. "You were--just a shade--too--anxious--about that money. But it never was--in any danger--from you, dear Doctor. It's safe. Perfectly safe. It's all--in the hands--of the bookmakers. Twenty--thousand--Amy's money. I played it at the races--lost every--cent of it. I've been a pretty bad boy, Burglar--excuse me--Doctor, but I've been a square sport. I don't think--I ever met--such an--eighteen-carat rascal as you are, Doctor--excuse me--Burglar, in all my rounds. Is it contrary--to the ethics--of your--gang, Burglar, to give a victim--excuse me--patient, a drink of water?" Doctor James brought him a drink. He could scarcely swallow it. The reaction from the powerful drug was coming in regular, intensifying waves. But his moribund fancy must have one more grating fling. "Gambler--drunkard--spendthrift--I've been those, but--a doctor-burglar!" The physician indulged himself to but one reply to the other's caustic taunts. Bending low to catch Chandler's fast crystallizing gaze, he pointed to the sleeping lady's door with a gesture so stern and significant that the prostrate man half-lifted his head, with his remaining strength, to see. He saw nothing; but he caught the cold words of the doctor--the last sounds he was to hear: "I never yet--struck a woman."