The doctor's examination was over, but he hesitated and cleared
his throat.
"Mr. Coroner," he said, "at the risk of taking up valuable time,
I would like to speak of an incident that may or may not throw
some light on this matter."
The audience was alert at once.
"Kindly proceed, Doctor," the coroner said.
"My home is in Englewood, two miles from Casanova," the doctor
began. "In the absence of Doctor Walker, a number of Casanova
people have been consulting me. A month ago--five weeks, to be
exact--a woman whom I had never seen came to my office. She was
in deep mourning and kept her veil down, and she brought for
examination a child, a boy of six. The little fellow was ill; it
looked like typhoid, and the mother was frantic. She wanted a
permit to admit the youngster to the Children's Hospital in town
here, where I am a member of the staff, and I gave her one. The
incident would have escaped me, but for a curious thing. Two
days before Mr. Armstrong was shot, I was sent for to go to the
Country Club: some one had been struck with a golf-ball that had
gone wild. It was late when I left--I was on foot, and
about a mile from the club, on the Claysburg road, I met two
people. They were disputing violently, and I had no difficulty
in recognizing Mr. Armstrong. The woman, beyond doubt, was the
one who had consulted me about the child."
At this hint of scandal, Mrs. Ogden Fitzhugh sat up very
straight. Jamieson was looking slightly skeptical, and the
coroner made a note.
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