“There needn’t be.  I shall look in on Mrs. Wackford and you have to see the Rummel children; we shall pass the station on our way.  Why shouldn’t we drop in and see the inspector or superintendent?”

The suggestion met my views exactly.  As soon as we had finished tea, we set forth, and in about ten minutes found ourselves in the bare and forbidding office attached to the station.

The presiding officer descended from a high stool, and, carefully laying down his pen, shook hands cordially.

“And what can I do for you gentlemen?” he asked, with an affable smile.

Stillbury proceeded to open our business.

“My friend here, Dr. Jervis, who has very kindly been looking after my work for a week or two, has had a most remarkable experience, and he wants to tell you about it.”

“Something in my line of business?” the officer inquired.

“That,” said I, “is for you to judge.  I think it is, but you may think otherwise”; and hereupon, without further preamble, I plunged into the history of the case, giving him a condensed statement similar to that which I had already made to Stillbury.

He listened with close attention, jotting down from time to time a brief note on a sheet of paper; and, when I had finished, he wrote out in a black-covered notebook a short precis of my statement.

“I have written down here,” he said, “the substance of what you have told me.  I will read the deposition over to you, and, if it is correct, I will ask you to sign it.”

He did so, and, when I had signed the document, I asked him what was likely to be done in the matter.

“I am afraid,” he replied, “that we can’t take any active measures.  You have put us on our guard and we shall keep our eyes open.  But I think that is all we can do, unless we hear something further.”

“But,” I exclaimed, “don’t you think that it is a very suspicious affair?”

“I do,” he replied.  “A very fishy business indeed, and you were quite right to come and tell us about it.”

“It seems a pity not to take some measures,” I said.  “While you are waiting to hear something further, they may give the poor wretch a fresh dose and kill him.”

“In which case we should hear something further, unless some fool of a doctor were to give a death certificate.”

“But that is very unsatisfactory.  The man ought not to be allowed to die.”

“I quite agree with you, sir.  But we’ve no evidence that he is going to die.  His friends sent for you, and you treated him skilfully and left him in a fair way to recovery.  That’s all that we really know about it.  Yes, I know,” the officer continued as I made signs of disagreement, “you think that a crime is possibly going to be committed and that we ought to prevent it.  But you overrate our powers.  We can only act on evidence that a crime has actually been committed or is actually being attempted.  Now we have no such evidence.  Look at your statement, and tell me what you can swear to.”