“What can happen?  Even if the matter should be taking a serious turn, of which I am not at all afraid, Mancher has only to ‘resurrect’ himself and explain matters.  With a genuine ‘subject’ from the dissecting-room, or one of your late patients, it might be different.”

Dr. Mancher, then, had been as good as his promise; he was the “corpse.”

Dr. Helberson was silent for a long time, as the carriage, at a snail’s pace, crept along the same street it had traveled two or three times already.  Presently he spoke:  “Well, let us hope that Mancher, if he has had to rise from the dead, has been discreet about it.  A mistake in that might make matters worse instead of better.”

“Yes,” said Harper, “Jarette would kill him.  But, Doctor”—­looking at his watch as the carriage passed a gas lamp—­“it is nearly four o’clock at last.”

A moment later the two had quitted the vehicle and were walking briskly toward the long-unoccupied house belonging to the doctor in which they had immured Mr. Jarette in accordance with the terms of the mad wager.  As they neared it they met a man running.  “Can you tell me,” he cried, suddenly checking his speed, “where I can find a doctor?”

“What’s the matter?” Helberson asked, non-committal.

“Go and see for yourself,” said the man, resuming his running.

They hastened on.  Arrived at the house, they saw several persons entering in haste and excitement.  In some of the dwellings near by and across the way the chamber windows were thrown up, showing a protrusion of heads.  All heads were asking questions, none heeding the questions of the others.  A few of the windows with closed blinds were illuminated; the inmates of those rooms were dressing to come down.  Exactly opposite the door of the house that they sought a street lamp threw a yellow, insufficient light upon the scene, seeming to say that it could disclose a good deal more if it wished.  Harper paused at the door and laid a hand upon his companion’s arm.  “It is all up with us, Doctor,” he said in extreme agitation, which contrasted strangely with his free-and-easy words; “the game has gone against us all.  Let’s not go in there; I’m for lying low.”

“I’m a physician,” said Dr. Helberson, calmly; “there may be need of one.”

They mounted the doorsteps and were about to enter.  The door was open; the street lamp opposite lighted the passage into which it opened.  It was full of men.  Some had ascended the stairs at the farther end, and, denied admittance above, waited for better fortune.  All were talking, none listening.  Suddenly, on the upper landing there was a great commotion; a man had sprung out of a door and was breaking away from those endeavoring to detain him.  Down through the mass of affrighted idlers he came, pushing them aside, flattening them against the wall on one side, or compelling them to cling to the rail on the other, clutching them by the throat, striking them savagely, thrusting them back down the stairs and walking over the fallen.  His clothing was in disorder, he was without a hat.  His eyes, wild and restless, had in them something more terrifying than his apparently superhuman strength.  His face, smooth-shaven, was bloodless, his hair frost-white.