le any longer than is really
necessary. I have my suspicions about that splint--oh, you know what I
mean," and before I had time to reply, she had taken advantage of the
entrance of a couple of patients to whisk out of the surgery with the
abruptness that had distinguished her arrival.

The evening consultations were considered to be over by half-past
eight; at which time Adolphus was wont with exemplary punctuality to
close the outer door of the surgery. To-night he was not less prompt
than usual; and having performed this, his last daily office, and
turned down the surgery gas, he reported the fact and took his
departure.

As his retreating footsteps died away and the slamming of the outer
door announced his final disappearance, I sat up and stretched myself.
The envelope containing the copy of the will lay on the table, and I
considered it thoughtfully. It ought to be conveyed to Thorndyke with
as little delay as possible, and, as it certainly could not be trusted
out of my hands, it ought to be conveyed by me.

I looked at the notebooks. Nearly two hours' work had made a
considerable impression on the matter that I had to transcribe, but
still, a great deal of the task yet remained to be done. However, I
reflected, I could put in a couple of hours or more before going to bed
and there would be an hour or two to spare in the morning. Finally I
locked the notebooks, open as they were, in the writing-table drawer,
and slipping the envelope into my pocket, set out for the Temple.

The soft chime of the Treasury clock was telling out, in confidential
tones, the third quarter as I rapped with my stick on the forbidding
"oak" of my friends' chambers. There was no response, nor had I
perceived any gleam of light from the windows as I approached, and I
was considering the advisability of trying the laboratory on the next
floor, when footsteps on the stone stairs and familiar voices gladdened
my ear.

"Hallo, Berkeley!" said Thorndyke, "do we find you waiting like a Peri
at the gates of Paradise? Polton is upstairs, you know, tinkering at
one of his inventions. If you ever find the nest empty, you had better
go up and bang at the laboratory door. He's always there in the
evenings."

"I haven't been waiting long," said I, "and I was just thinking of
rousing him up when you came."

"That was right," said Thorndyke, turning up the gas. "And what news
do you bring? Do I see a blue envelope sticking out of you