"No," said Godfrey; "he didn't have time. You understand, Mr. Vantine," he added, smiling at that gentleman, who was listening to all this with perplexed countenance, "we are simply talking now about possibilities. You couldn't possibly have killed this fellow because Lester has testified that he was with you constantly from the moment this man entered the house until his body was found, with the exception of the few seconds which elapsed between the time you entered this room and the time he joined you here, summoned by your cry. So you are out of the running." "Thanks," said Vantine, drily. "I suppose, then, you think it was Parks," said Goldberger. "It may quite possibly have been Parks," agreed Godfrey, gravely. "Nonsense!" broke in Vantine, impatiently. "Parks is as straight as a string--he's been with me for eight years." "Of course it's nonsense," assented Goldberger. "It's nonsense to say that he was killed by anybody. He killed himself. We'll learn the cause when we identify him--jealousy maybe, or maybe just hard luck --he doesn't look affluent." "I'll cable to Paris," said Simmonds. "If he belongs there, we'll soon find out who he is." "You'd better call an ambulance and have him taken to the morgue," went on Goldberger. "Somebody may identify him there. There'll be a crowd to-morrow, for, of course, the papers will be full of this affair--" "The _Record_, at least, will have a very full account," Godfrey assured him. "And I'll call the inquest for the day after," Goldberger continued. "I'll send my physician down to make a post-mortem right away. If there's any poison in this fellow's stomach, we'll find it." Godfrey did not speak; but I knew what was in his mind. He was thinking that, if such poison existed, the vessel which had contained it had not yet been found. The same thought, no doubt, occurred to Simmonds, for, after ordering the policeman in the hall to call the ambulance, he returned and began a careful search of the room, using his electric torch to illumine every shadowed corner. Godfrey devoted himself to a similar search; but both were without result. Then Godfrey made a minute inspection of the injured hand, while Goldberger looked on with ill-concealed impatience; and finally he moved toward the door. "I think I'll be going," he said. "But I'm interested in what your physician will find, Mr. Coroner." "He'll find poison, all right," asserted Goldberger, with decision. "Perhaps he will," admitted Godfrey. "Strange things happen in this world. Will you be at home to-night, Lester?" "Yes, I expect to be," I answered. "You're still at the Marathon?" "Yes," I said; "suite fourteen." "Perhaps I'll drop around to see you," he said, and a moment later we heard the door close behind him as Parks let him out.