Dr. Worth’s curiosity was beginning to get the upper hand over his grouch.
“Perfectly sound. Why do you ask?”
“Because I want to try an experiment on her.”
“You want to what, sir?” Dr. Worth almost shouted it. He was thoroughly awake now.
“Not so loud, please, Doctor. I want you to let me stay in the room alone with your patient. You can open the connecting bathroom door a little and watch me through its crack, but I want the nurse out of the way. And I don’t want you to make any noise or comments while you’re watching. I don’t want Mrs. Endicott to know that you’re there.”
Dr. Worth looked at Lieutenant Valcour sharply. “This is nonsense. She couldn’t possibly tell who was or who wasn’t there. She’s unconscious.”
“Perhaps she isn’t, Doctor. This is what her maid has just told me.” Lieutenant Valcour offered Dr. Worth Roberts’s astonishing theory concerning the poured-out narcotic, and Dr. Worth was quite properly astonished. “So you see it’s a possibility, Doctor, and the fact of my finding that slipper outside of the window makes it practically a certainty.”
“It’s the most astounding thing I’ve ever heard of in my life. If you don’t intend to shock her, Lieutenant, I’ll agree to anything you say.”
“I shan’t do anything rough, Doctor, like discharging a gun off near her ear, or pinching her, or slapping her, or any of the tricks which are so popularly supposed to be kept up the sleeve of a policeman. You can stop me at any minute if you object to anything I may be doing.”