Chapter 3
“If only that intriguing Forsyth didn’t see it!”
These words were spoken by Dr. Sydney Hudelson himself, and to himself, on the 21st of March, as he stood in his sanctum.
He was a doctor of medicine, but did not practise at Whaston, preferring to devote his time and intelligence to vaster and more sublime speculations. An intimate friend of Dean Forsyth’s, he was, none the less, his rival. Taken up with the same hobby, he had, like him, no eyes save for the broad welkin, and, like his friend also, he devoted his mind solely to the solution of the astronomic enigmas of the universe.
Doctor Hudelson had large means, both in his personal right and through his wife, whose maiden name was Flora Clarish. Having been prudently husbanded, this double fortune made ample provision for
