imself, he stole
the dog in order to prevent me from experimenting on him."

I laughed aloud from sheer excitement and the relief of finding some
tangible thing to go on, for the oculist's argument struck me as very
nearly perfect.

"You ought to be at Scotland Yard," I said. "You seem to me to have
hit the nail on the head."

"The two callings are very closely allied," he said modestly.
"Detectives deal with murderers and thieves, and I with nerves and
tissues. It is all a question of diagnosis."

"I must say I think you've diagnosed this case very well, Mr.
Garnesk," I said, "though we are just at the beginning of our troubles
if what you suppose is correct."

"I can't think of any other solution," he answered thoughtfully; "and
we are, as you say, just at the beginning of our troubles. The first
thing to do is----"

"To find the man who stole the dog," I cut in.

"To find the man who knew the dog was blind," he corrected. "By that
means we may come to the man who stole the dog; then we may get his
reason from his own lips, if we are exceptionally lucky. But I fancy I
can supply his motive, failing a full confession."

"You can?" I cried. "Let's hear it."

"You've thought of one yourself, of course?" he asked.

"The only motive I can think of is too fantastic altogether. It is
weak enough to presuppose that someone has a grievance against Miss
McLeod or the General, and that someone took advantage of the
extraordinary circumstances to steal Sholto, and if possible prevent
Myra getting her sight back. Oh, it's too ridiculous!"

"We have to remember," my companion suggested, "that our unknown
quantity not only knew that the dog was blind, but also knew that I
was coming or had arrived, and would probably experiment on the beast.
It argues a very terrible urgency that the animal disappeared within
an hour or two of my arrival. From all that I deduce what seems to me
the only possible motive. The dog was stolen by the man who made Miss
McLeod blind."

"_Made_ her blind!" I cried. "You don't seriously mean that you think
someone--some fiend of hell--deliberately blinded her?"

"Not deliberately," my companion replied. "But I believe it was
through some human agency that she was blinded. I think some person or
persons were anxious that Miss McLeod should remain blind, in case we
should, in the process of recovering her sight, hit upon the cause of
her losing it."

In silence I sat for a few moments, think