what he said when we talked about
ghosts?"

"Sheer nonsense!" Sir James remarks.

"Sheer delusion would be the more correct form of expression," the
doctor rejoins. "And other delusions may grow out of it at any moment."

"What is to be done?" persists Sir James. "I may really say for myself,
doctor, that I feel a fatherly interest in the poor fellow. His mother
was one of my oldest and dearest friends, and he has inherited many of
her engaging and endearing qualities. I hope you don't think the case is
bad enough to be a case for restraint?"

"Certainly not--as yet," answers the doctor. "So far there is no
positive brain disease; and there is accordingly no sort of reason
for placing him under restraint. It is essentially a difficult and a
doubtful case. Have him privately looked after by a competent person,
and thwart him in nothing, if you can possibly help it. The merest
trifle may excite his suspicions; and if that happens, we lose all
control over him."

"You don't think he suspects us already, do you, doctor?"

"I hope not. I saw him once or twice look at me very strangely; and he
has certainly been a long time out of the room."

Hearing this, I wait to hear no more. I return to the sitting-room (by
way of the corridor) and resume my place at the table.

The indignation that I feel--naturally enough, I think, under the
circumstances--makes a good actor of me for once in my life. I invent
the necessary excuse for my long absence, and take my part in the
conversation, keeping the strictest guard on every word that escapes me,
without betraying any appearance of restraint in my manner. Early in the
evening the doctor leaves us to go to a scientific meeting. For half an
hour or more Sir James remains with me. By way (as I suppose) of farther
testing the state of my mind, he renews the invitation to his house in
Scotland. I pretend to feel flattered by his anxiety to secure me as
his guest. I undertake to reconsider my first refusal, and to give him a
definite answer when we meet the next morning at breakfast. Sir James is
delighted. We shake hands cordially, and wish each other good-night. At
last I am left alone.

My resolution as to my next course of proceeding is formed without a
moment's hesitation. I determine to leave the hotel privately the next
morning before Sir James is out of his bedroom.

To what destination I am to betake myself is naturally the next question
that arises, and this also I eas