The Mystery of St. Agnes Hospital | Page 6

to pay well to keep out of trouble."
"But I don't want to get into any."
"You won't. All you've got to do is to keep still."
"Keep still about what, sir?"
"This sleep-walking to-night."
"I won't say a word, unless--"
Nick hesitated. He wished to give the doctor the impression that his
innocence was by no means clear, and that the idea of shielding a
murderer was not to be entertained.
His acting was evidently successful.
"Look here, Cleary," said the doctor, "I don't trust you. There's just one
thing that will satisfy me. You must get away."
The doctor was trembling violently. Evidently fear had taken
possession of him.
"Get away?" asked Nick, as if surprised.
"Yes; I'm afraid of you. You will talk."
"But where shall I go?"
"Go to Australia," said Dr. Jarvis, after a moment's reflection. "You
have no family. It makes no difference to you where you go, so long as
you have money."
"How much money?"

"In that safe," said the doctor, pointing to a steel box in the corner,
"there is enough to start you. I have about five thousand dollars in cash
there, and I will send ten times as much more after you. Is that
enough?"
"You take my breath away," said Nick. "When must I go?"
"At once; to-night."
"But, Dr. Jarvis--"
"Don't talk. Do it. If fifty thousand dollars isn't enough, you shall have
a hundred thousand within six months."
"How do I know that you will send it?"
"If I don't, come back and denounce me."
"But how will you explain my going?"
"I will say that you have gone to Europe for me as you did go three
years ago."
Nick shook his head.
"Dr. Jarvis," said he, "I've worked for you twenty years, and I think as
much of you as of any man living, but I can't do this."
"Why not?"
"I can't shield a guilty man."
"Nonsense, you idiot; I am as innocent as you are."
"Then why do you send me away? No, Dr. Jarvis, this is plain to me.
You killed him."
"I killed him?" cried the doctor.

"Yes; but you are not a murderer at heart. Some accident led to this.
Tell me how it happened, and if it is as I think, I will go."
"I tell you I am innocent. I had nothing to do with this man's
disappearance."
Despite all Nick's ingenuity, Dr. Jarvis stuck to this assertion. There
was nothing left for Nick, in the character of Cleary, except to pretend
to believe it.
He resolved to accept the doctor's bribe. This was almost necessary, for
in any case he would be obliged to remove Cleary.
After this conversation, it would not be safe to leave the negro there.
The doctor would, of course, discover that some trick had been played
upon him as soon as he mentioned the events of the night to Cleary.
The results which would follow such a discovery Nick wished to avoid.
He, therefore, with great caution, accepted the proposal, and received a
large sum as the first installment of the blackmail.
As to the doctor's real intentions, Nick was in some doubt. It seemed
probable that he meant to sacrifice Cleary to secure his own safety in
case it became necessary.
If Cleary ran away, it would be easy to divert suspicion to him.
The case against Dr. Jarvis looked very plain. Innocent men do not take
such desperate measures. And yet Nick was far from reaching a definite
opinion in the case.
He returned to Cleary's room; and it required a good deal of skill to
keep the doctor out of it. If he had entered, and had seen two Cleary's, it
is hard to say what desperation would have led him to do.
For an instant Nick had an idea of letting him do it, and then attempt to
secure a true statement of the case with the aid of the shock which the
doctor would have sustained on discovering how he had been duped.

But second thought showed him the necessity for a different procedure.
From Cleary's window he signaled for Chick, who was in waiting near
the wall, and to him he delivered the unconscious form of the negro.
Then he returned to take his leave of the doctor--a difficult business,
which he managed with great skill.
This done, he secretly left the hospital.
What had been the true meaning of the night's events? It puzzled him to
say.
Was the body on the slab that of Patrick Deever, or had the doctor gone
through in his sleep the act which he intended to perform later with the
real body?
Nick thought that the latter was more probable. He was inclined to
believe that the body of Deever might