"Who was it?"
"Don"t know that either."
Escott opened his eyes.
"What happened, then?"
"Well," said Sherlaw, drawing his chair up to the fire again, "I"ll tell you just what did happen, and you can make what you can out of it. Of course, I suppose it"s all right, really, but-well, the proceedings were a little unusual, don"t you know.
"I went down to the door, and there I found a four-wheeler with a man standing beside it. The door of the cab was shut, and there seemed to be two more men inside. This chap who"d got out-a youngish man-hailed me at once as though he"d bought the whole place.
" "You Dr Congleton?"
" "d.a.m.n your impertinence!" I said to myself, "ringing people up at this hour, and talking like a bally drill-sergeant."
"I told him politely I wasn"t old Congers, but that I"d make a good enough subst.i.tute for the likes of him.
" "I tell you what it is," said the Johnnie, "I"ve brought a patient for Dr Congleton, a cousin of mine, and I"ve got a doctor here, too. I want to see Dr Congleton."
" "He"s probably in bed," I said, "but I"ll do just as well. I suppose he"s certified, and all that."
" "Oh, it"s all right," said the man, rather as though he expected me to say that it wasn"t. He looked a little doubtful what to do, and then I heard some one inside the cab call him. He stuck his head in the window and they confabbed for a minute, and then he turned to me and said, with the most magnificent air you ever saw, like a chap buying a set of diamond studs, "My friend here is a great personal friend of Dr Congleton, and it"s a d.a.m.ned-- I mean it"s an uncommonly delicate matter. We must see him."
" "Well, if you insist, I"ll see if I can get him," I said; "but you"d better come in and wait."
"So the Johnnie opened the door of the cab, and there was a great hauling and pushing, my friend pulling an arm from the outside, and the doctor shoving from within, and at last they fetched out their patient. He was a tall man, in a very smart-looking, long, light top-coat, and a cap with a large peak shoved over his eyes, and he seemed very unsteady on his pins.
" "Drunk, by George!" I said to myself at first.
"The doctor-another young-looking man-hopped out after him, and they each took an arm, lugged their patient into the waiting-room, and popped him into an armchair. There he collapsed, and sat with his head hanging down as limp as a sucked orange.
"I asked them if anything was the matter with him.
" "Only tired,-just a little sleepy," said the cousin.
"And do you know, Escott, what I"d stake my best boots was the matter with him?"
"What?"
"The man was drugged!"
Escott looked at the fire thoughtfully.
"Well," he said, "it"s quite possible; he might have been too violent to manage."
"Why couldn"t they have said so, then?"
"H"m. Not knowing, can"t say. What happened next?"
"Next thing was, I asked the doctor what name I should give. He answered in a kind of nervous way, "No name; you needn"t give any name. I know Dr Congleton personally. Ask him to come, please." So off I tooled, and found old Congers just thinking of turning in.
" "My clients are sometimes unnecessarily discreet", he remarked in his pompous way when I told him about the arrival, and of course he added his usual plat.i.tude about our reputation for discretion.
"I went back with him to the waiting-room, and just stood at the door long enough to see him hail the doctor chap very cordially and be introduced to the patient"s cousin, and then I came away. Rather rum, isn"t it?"
"You"ve certainly made the best of the yarn," said Escott with a laugh.
"By George, if you"d been there you"d have thought it funny too."
"Well, good-night, I"m off. We"ll probably hear to-morrow what it"s all about."
But in the morning there was little more to be learned about the new-comer"s history and antecedents. Dr Congleton spoke of the matter to the two young men, with the pompous cough that signified extreme discretion.
"Brought by an old friend of mine," he said. "A curious story, Escott, but quite intelligible. There seem to be the best reasons for answering no questions about him; you understand?"
"Certainly, sir," said the two a.s.sistants, with the more a.s.surance as they had no information to give.
"I am perfectly satisfied, mind you-perfectly satisfied," added their chief.
"By the way, sir," Sherlaw ventured to remark, "hadn"t they given him something in the way of a sleeping-draught?"
"Eh? Indeed? I hardly think so, Sherlaw, I hardly think so. Case of reaction entirely. Good morning."
"Congleton seems satisfied," remarked Escott.
"I"ll tell you what," said the junior, profoundly. "Old Congers is a very good chap, and all that, but he"s not what I should call extra sharp. _I_ should feel uncommon suspicious."
"H"m," replied Escott. "As you say, our worthy chief is not extra sharp.
But that"s not our business, after all."
CHAPTER II.
"By the way," said Escott, a couple of days later, "how is your mysterious man getting on? I haven"t seen him myself yet."
Sherlaw laughed.
"He"s turning out a regular sportsman, by George! For the first day he was more or less in the same state in which he arrived. Then he began to wake up and ask questions. "What the devil is this place?" he said to me in the evening. It may sound profane, but he was very polite, I a.s.sure you. I told him, and he sort of raised his eyebrows, smiled, and thanked me like a Prime Minister acknowledging an obligation. Since then he has steadily developed sporting, not to say frisky, tastes. He went out this morning, and in five minutes had his arm round one of the prettiest nurses" waist.
And she didn"t seem to mind much either, by George!"
"He"ll want a bit of looking after, I take it."
"Seems to me he is uncommonly capable of taking care of himself. The rest of the establishment will want looking after, though."
From this time forth the mysterious gentleman began to regularly take the air and to be remarked, and having once remarked him, people looked again.