And then, if I succeed, and if Pitman is staunch, there's nothing to do but find a venal doctor; and that ought to be simple enough in a place like London.

By all accounts the town's alive with them.

It wouldn't do, of course, to advertise for a corrupt physician; that would be impolitic.

No, I suppose a fellow has simply to spot along the streets for a red lamp and herbs in the window, and then you go in and--and--and put it to him plainly; though it seems a delicate step.' He was near home now, after many devious wanderings, and turned up John Street.

As he thrust his latchkey in the lock, another mortifying reflection struck him to the heart.
'Not even this house is mine till I can prove him dead,' he snarled, and slammed the door behind him so that the windows in the attic rattled.
Night had long fallen; long ago the lamps and the shop-fronts had begun to glitter down the endless streets; the lobby was pitch--dark; and, as the devil would have it, Morris barked his shins and sprawled all his length over the pedestal of Hercules.