"Thank you, Doctor. Depend on me to keep them so," I replied,
shaking his proffered hand.

"Now, as to the case," continued the doctor slowly. "Here is a
beautiful woman in the prime of life, the wife of a very wealthy
retired banker considerably older than herself--perhaps nearly
seventy--of very fine family. Of course you have read it all, but
let me sketch it so you will look at it from my point of view.
This woman, apparently in good health, with every luxury money
can buy, is certain within a very few years, from her dower
rights, to be numbered among the richest women in America. Yet
she is discovered in the middle of the night by her maid, seated
at the table in the library of her home, unconscious. She never
regains consciousness, but dies the following morning.

"The coroner is called in, and, as his physician, I must advise
him. The family physician has pronounced it due to natural
causes, the uremic coma of latent kidney trouble. Some of the
newspapers, I think the Star among them, have hinted at suicide.
And then there are others, who have flatly asserted it was
murder."

The coroner's physician paused to see if we were following him.
Needless to say Kennedy was ahead of him.

"Have you any facts in your possession which have not been given
to the public yet?" asked Craig.

"I'm coming to that in a moment," replied Dr. Hanson. "Let me
sketch the case first. Henry Vandam had become--well, very