Page:The Death-Doctor.djvu/76

64 to that. It also appeared to be quite certain that no one could possibly have visited the dead man on that evening but his half-brother, as in order to reach the tower-room it was necessary to pass through the hall, and that had not been empty for a moment during the few hours before the death.

Anthony, in his evidence, volunteered the statement that he and Francis had quarrelled, and admitted also that the marks on the throat were probably his handiwork, the two having come to blows. "But," he said, "Francis was stronger than I, and although I held him by the throat for a very short time he afterwards threw me out of the room and shut the door. What I did was really done in self-defence."

He swore that he left deceased about one o'clock, very angry, but in perfect health as far as he knew, and that he had then gone to his own room.

There was no evidence to support him, however, as to the time, although Roberts admitted seeing him pass through the hall "very late."

The medical evidence was very curious, and to me, my dear fellow, most interesting and instructive.