The velvet band again covered the red mark.

I asked the Professor in a whisper, "What do you make of that mark on her throat ?" "What do you make of it ?" "I have not examined it yet," I answered, and then and there proceeded to loose the band.

Just over the external jugular vein there were two punctures, not large, but not wholesome looking.

There was no sign of disease, but the edges were white and worn looking, as if by some trituration.

It at once occurred to me that that this wound, or whatever it was, might be the means of that manifest loss of blood.
But I abandoned the idea as soon as it formed, for such a thing could not be.