Chapter 10
THREE WHO DIEDA passenger leisurely selecting his compartment during the wait
at Kensington opened a carriage door and staggered back coughing. A
solicitous porter and an alarmed station official ran forward and
pulled open the door, and the sickly odour of almonds pervaded the
station.
A little knot of passengers gathered and peered over one
another's shoulders, whilst the station inspector investigated. By
and by came a doctor, and a stretcher, and a policeman from the
street without.
Together they lifted the huddled form of a dead man from the
carriage and laid it on the platform.
"Did you find anything?" asked the policeman.
"A sovereign and a broken bottle," was the reply.
The policeman fumbled in the dead man's pockets.
"I don't suppose he'll have any papers
