"Of course," agreed the Professor. "I can see that."
He was seated again, and he leaned across to Mary confidentially,
with an explanatory forefinger hovering.
"As I told your father, Miss Pond, it isn't necessary to go far back
in the case," he said. "As a matter of fact, I took this case up--
experimentally. The subject was a good one for a--well, call it a
theory of mine, a new idea in pathology. You see? I wanted to try it
on the dog before publishing it, and our young friend there"--he
nodded at the back of the room and sank his voice--"he was the dog.
You understand?"
Mary nodded, and the Professor smiled.
"Well," he said, "I have succeeded. The patient is convalescent,
but--you see how he is. He has very little vital force, and also,
occasionally, delusions. Merely ephemeral, you know, but delusions.
He wants quiet chiefly, and very little else--just that atmosphere of
repose and--er--peace which you can create for him, Miss Pond."
"These delusions," put in Dr. Pond, "are they of any special
character!"
"H'm!" The Professor stroked his chin. "No," he said. "Curious, you
know, but not symptomatic." His hard eye scanned the old doctor
purposely. "Sometimes," he said slowly, "he thinks he has been dead,
and that I brought him back to life."
"And he hates you for it," suggested Mary. The Professor stared at
her in open astonishment.
"How on earth did you know that?" he cried.
"I saw him looking after you in the station," Mary explained. "He
just--glared."
"I see." Professor Fish was always rather extravagant in manner and
speech; his relief now seemed a little exaggerated. He drew a deep
breath and glanced past Mary to the patient on his chair at the far
end of the room. "Yes," he said, "at such times he is distinctly
resentful. I don't wonder you noticed it."
"Your letter didn't mention his name," said Mary.
"I should call him Smith," answered the Professor.
"It's a good name. And that, I think, is all there is to tell. Oh, by
the way, though he has no suicidal tendency, of course, or I
shouldn't put him here; but all the same----"