"And now for your story," said he. "How did you know that it concerned Mr. Francis?"
"G. Armytage is Godfrey Armytage," she said, "a side point only. You have told your tale very clearly, Geoffrey. But there is one weak point in the evidence."
"Evidence? What evidence?" asked Geoffrey.
"Yes; evidence is the wrong word--chain of circumstance, if you will. The weak point is that there is no certain proof of the identity of Dr. Godfrey with Dr. Armytage. It is certain to you and me, I grant you, but still-- Did Harry say what this man he met driving to the station was like?"
"'Not a canny man' were his words," said Geoffrey; "'dark, clean-shaven, forty, and distasteful.'"
"You haven't answered my question," Geoffrey reminded her.
"No--I will. Did you ever hear of the Harmsworth case--the death of Harold Harmsworth?"
"Harold Harmsworth was shot, you will remember. At the coroner's inquest the whole question naturally turned on the distance from his head at which the gun which killed him was fired. This, you will easily understand, was of the utmost importance, for if the muzzle of the gun was not more than, say, a yard or four feet off, it was certainly possible that he had shot himself accidentally. But imagine the gun to have been ten feet off, it becomes certain that some gun not his own shot him. Now, his head was shattered; it looked to the ordinary mind as if the injury must have been done by shot that had already begun to spread--I can not speak technically. But the doctor who maintained that the shot might easily have been fired within the shorter distances--who was responsible, in fact, for the case not going beyond the coroner--was Dr. Godfrey Armytage."
"Well, it is all natural enough," he said at length, "Mr. Francis, on your own showing, has probably known the man for a long time; it is natural also that he did not wish to tell Harry his real name, for it was connected with that dreadful tragedy. It is also natural, if Dr. Armytage is an eminent man, that he should wish to consult a doctor he knew about his condition. Why not?"
"For this reason," said Lady Oxted: "Dr. Armytage is not a heart specialist any more than you or I. He is a surgeon, and not a very reputable one. I needn't go into details. But it would be as sensible to go to him, if you suffered from the heart, as to go to a cabinetmaker."