“No, it does not,” responded Prescott.  “Her father is strongly opposed to our marriage.  However, as both of us are of age, it will take place.

“We have been obliged to meet secretly, and we have frequently walked, in the evening, in the grove back of St. Agnes’ Hospital.

“We were there Monday evening, and we remained much later than we should have done.  We had many things to talk about.

“It must have been midnight when we left the place.  As we were walking slowly up one of the paths we became aware that a man was approaching from behind us.

“Not wishing to be seen, we stepped aside among the trees and waited.

“The man came on up the path, and by the moonlight which struggled through the branches of the trees we saw that he was carrying a great sack.

“I instantly suspected that some crime was afoot.  My first thought was that this was a grave-robber carrying a body.

“I supposed that he had brought the body to the shore of the river in a boat, and was carrying it to one of the doctors in the hospital.

“We allowed him to pass us, and then we followed him.  He went to the wall surrounding the hospital grounds.

“Choosing a place where there is a bank of rubbish against the wall, he lifted the sack to the top.  Then I knew that it could not contain a dead body.”

“How did you know that?” asked Nick.

“Because he lifted it so easily.  What was in the sack I do not know, of course.  There was some crooked business about it, I have no doubt, but it was not a body that he had there, because, by the way he handled it, I saw that it could not weigh over fifty pounds, and the sack was too large to have only a child’s body in it.”

“What did you do?”

“We watched him lay the sack on top of the wall, and then climb up.  He dropped the sack into the garden, and let himself down from the wall.  We paid no further attention to the matter.

“It made Margaret very nervous, but I proved to her, by the weight of the sack, that her suspicions regarding its contents were unfounded.”

“Did you know the man?” asked Nick.

“I hardly like to answer that question.”

“Why not?”

“I am afraid of doing somebody an injustice.”

“You have a suspicion, then?”

“I have.”

“Was the man Dr. Jarvis?”

“I cannot say.  I do not know him.”

“But his dress—­”

“I see that it is useless to try to conceal anything from you,” said Prescott.  “The man wore the peculiar cap and dressing-gown which everybody knows for the doctor’s.”

“There is no doubt about it,” said Miss Allen.  “It was Dr. Jarvis.”

“I thank you very much for your evidence,” said Nick.

“But why do you want it?” asked Prescott.  “I have heard a rumor that Patrick Deever has disappeared.  This is his brother’s house.  Is the doctor suspected of having murdered him?”