Doctor Cardigan had made an error, it was saying.

And Doctor Cardigan, because of that error, was like a man whose heart had been taken out of him.

But it was an excusable error.
If there had been an X-ray--But there had been none.

And Doctor Cardigan had made the diagnosis that nine out of ten good surgeons would probably have made.

What he had taken to be the aneurismal blood-rush was an exaggerated heart murmur, and the increased thickening in his chest was a simple complication brought about by too much night air.