ng at the town
house."

Groves stared hard at Dr. Cairn.

"Your young friend, Antony Ferrara, is a regular visitor."

"No doubt," said Cairn; "he goes everywhere. I don't know how long his
funds will last."

"I have wondered, too. His chambers are like a scene from the 'Arabian
Nights.'"

"How do you know?" inquired the other curiously. "Have you attended
him?"

"Yes," was the reply. "His Eastern servant 'phoned for me one night
last week; and I found Ferrara lying unconscious in a room like a
pasha's harem. He looked simply ghastly, but the man would give me no
account of what had caused the attack. It looked to me like sheer
nervous exhaustion. He gave me quite an anxious five minutes.
Incidentally, the room was blazing hot, with a fire roaring right up
the chimney, and it smelt like a Hindu temple."

"Ah!" muttered Cairn, "between his mode of life and his peculiar
studies he will probably crack up. He has a fragile constitution."

"Who the deuce is he, Cairn?" pursued Sir Elwin. "You must know all
the circumstances of his adoption; you were with the late Sir Michael
in Egypt at the time. The fellow is a mystery to me; he repels, in
some way. I was glad to get away from his rooms."

"You were going to tell me something about Lord Lashmore's case, I
think?" said Cairn.

Sir Elwin Groves screwed up his eyes and readjusted his pince-nez, for
the deliberate way in which his companion had changed the conversation
was unmistakable. However, Cairn's brusque manners were proverbial,
and Sir Elwin accepted the lead.

"Yes, yes, I believe I was," he agreed, rather lamely. "Well, it's
very singular. I was called there last Monday, at about two o'clock in
the morning. I found the house upside-down, and Lady Lashmore, with a
dressing-gown thrown over her nightdress, engaged in bathing a bad
wound in her husband's throat."

"What! Attempted suicide?"

"My first idea, naturally. But a glance at the wound set me wondering.
It was bleeding profusely, and from its location I was afraid that it
might have penetrated the internal jugular; but the external only was
wounded. I arrested the flow of blood and made the patient
comfortable. Lady Lashmore assisted me coolly and displayed some skill
as a nurse. In fact she had applied a ligature before my arrival."

"Lord Lashmore remained conscious?"

"Quite. He was shaky, of course. I called again at nine o'clock that
morning, and found him progressing favourably. When I h