find a discreet man."

He was most benevolently interested in all the proceedings. He remarked
with a patriarchal smile as he tore the sheet noisily: "You had better
not lose any time." I didn't lose any time. I crammed into the next
hour an astonishing amount of bodily activity. Without more words I flew
out bare-headed into the last night of Carnival. Luckily I was certain
of the right sort of doctor. He was an iron-grey man of forty and of a
stout habit of body but who was able to put on a spurt. In the cold,
dark, and deserted by-streets, he ran with earnest, and ponderous
footsteps, which echoed loudly in the cold night air, while I skimmed
along the ground a pace or two in front of him. It was only on arriving
at the house that I perceived that I had left the front door wide open.
All the town, every evil in the world could have entered the
black-and-white hall. But I had no time to meditate upon my imprudence.
The doctor and I worked in silence for nearly an hour and it was only
then while he was washing his hands in the fencing-room that he asked:

"What was he up to, that imbecile?"

"Oh, he was examining this curiosity," I said.

"Oh, yes, and it accidentally went off," said the doctor, looking
contemptuously at the Nubian knife I had thrown on the table. Then while
wiping his hands: "I would bet there is a woman somewhere under this; but
that of course does not affect the nature of the wound. I hope this
blood-letting will do him good."

"Nothing will do him any good," I said.

"Curious house this," went on the doctor, "It belongs to a curious sort
of woman, too. I happened to see her once or twice. I shouldn't wonder
if she were to raise considerable trouble in the track of her pretty feet
as she goes along. I believe you know her well."

"Yes."

"Curious people in the house, too. There was a Carlist officer here, a
lean, tall, dark man, who couldn't sleep. He consulted me once. Do you
know what became of him?"

"No."

The doctor had finished wiping his hands and flung the towel far away.

"Considerable nervous over-strain. Seemed to have a restless brain. Not
a good thing, that. For the rest a perfect gentleman. And this Spaniard
here, do you know him?"

"Enough not to care what happens to him," I said, "except for the trouble
he might cause to the Carlist sympathizers here, should the police get
hold of this affair."

"Well, then, he must take his chance in the seclusio