Frank Danby

“ Ince's wife was an octoroon, ignorant, jealous of him, and, of late, had acquired the habit of lifting the little finger."
"According to Milly?"
"According to Milly. I admit of this last item she was my informant."
Keightley was quite good-tempered, David's satire made no impression on him.
"Ride on," said the journalist.
"Ince is of attractive appearance, popular with women, clever in his profession, a rising man. You will admit that he was handicapped by such a wife as I describe?" ”

“ I have it straight from Boyne, who knows nothing of all I have just told you, who is convinced he was responsible for his patient's death, who has no idea he was merely a tool, an instrument.
"In the hospital Mrs. Ince's burns had been dressed with boracic lotion. In the nursing home an aqueous solution of picric acid was substituted—a newer and later treatment. At whose suggestion? Boyne does not remember: he cannot say. He thinks it was his own idea. But, of course, it wasn't; he is not the sort of man to have ideas, only to adopt them. ”

“ Don't you think it a curious thing that the doctor in charge of the case was not there to give evidence? That his place was taken by two consultants who, as you know, are more or less dependent on general practitioners; professors of medical etiquette, skilled in the art of non-committal. ”

“ Am I not beginning to interest you?"
"Every man is interesting when on his hobby." David leaned back in his chair and used his tooth-pick. "I am going to have an omelette au rhum, so you may bolt along, over any obstacles or tracts of flat commonplaces. What else have you learnt from Milly about Ince's wife? By the way, Ince will not materially improve his position if he made a funeral pyre for his wife in order to marry Milly!"
"You think badly of her?" Keightley asked with uplifted eyebrows. ”

“ Boyne had been offered, and accepted, a post in the Midlands, and it having been advisable to proceed to take up his duties at once, he (Dr. Ince) thought it unnecessary for him to remain in London for the purpose of giving evidence here. His good friends. Sir Daniel Custance and Dr. Gregory, two of the most distinguished physicians in London, had seen his wife in consultation, separately and together, during the four days she was in the nursing home in Fitzroy Gardens. They were both in court, and ready to tell the jury what had occurred. ”

“ She had admitted to finding Keightley's new friend uncongenial.
"It is one of the few drawbacks of gambling, that nice people, like ourselves, don't do it. As I must play cards I have to consort with all sorts and conditions of men and women, but I am not going to encourage your associating with their impossible relatives."
Keightley had had to remind her that he had a reason for seeking the society of Dr. Leonard Boyne. ”

“ Then, and not until then, he was ready for the story Keightley had come there to tell him. Keightley had mentioned meanwhile the amazing brilliancy of a new poem he was projecting for the Review.
"I will guarantee there is more bad language in it than in any recent poem: coarser words and finer thoughts, more perfect technique ..."
"There is a time for everything. On to the hobby-horse! Ride; and I'll smoke meanwhile. Did Ince set his wife on fire?" David asked. ”

“ Every man to his taste. You, for instance, may prefer musical comedy."
David reddened, and Keightley at once apologised.
"Sorry. It slipped out."
There was one subject never mentioned between those two men; Keightley had forgotten, and now apologised. They were friends, almost intimates. The link that bound them was one of common interests and daily association. They frequented the same eating-houses, were members of the same clubs. But there were deep-lying and essential differences between them. Devenish was a man of reticences and reserves, ten years, at least, the other's senior. ”

“ Ince, as you know, spent his evening with Milly. She is quite great in the new revue. At Murray's they supped and tangoed, and he saw her home. Then you get his return to the devastated house in Clarges Street and his visit to the hospital.
"When the idea came into his mind I don't know: nobody will ever know. I'll give you facts; you must draw your own conclusions. In the hospital Ince could do nothing. So he yanked her out of it and into a nursing home. Medical etiquette decreed he could not doctor her himself. He therefore selected for her attendant Dr. Leonard Boyne, also a St. ”