"
"No; no! A check will be _quite_ all right," protested Ives. "At your
convenience."
Others gathered about, curious and interested. Banneker, puzzled by a
vague suspicion which he sought to formulate, was aware of a low runnel
of commentary at his ear.
"Very curious. Shrewd; yes. A clever fellow.... Sad, too."
"Sad?" He turned sharply on the lawyer of unsavory suits. "What is sad
about it? A fool and his money! Is that tragedy?"
"Comedy, my friend. Always comedy. This also, perhaps. But grim.... Our
friend there who is so clever of hand and eye; he is not perhaps a
medical man?"
"Yes; he is. What connection--Good God!" he cried, as a flood of memory
suddenly poured light upon a dark spot in some of his forgotten reading.
"Ah? You know? Yes; I have had such a case in my legal practice. Died of
an--an error. He made a mistake--in a bottle, which he purchased for
that purpose. But this one--he elects to live and face it--"
"Does he know it?"
"Obviously. One can see the dread in his eyes. Some of his friends know
it--and his family, I am told. But he does not know this interesting
little experiment of our friend. Profitable, too, eh? One wonders how he
came to suspect. A medical man, though; a keen eye. Of course.
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