st. Your other
condition is fair, as I told you; I think you can dismiss the idea of
insanity without a second thought, but there is something more than
brain and body to be considered; in other words, you have been through a
storm, and some of your nervous wires are down. Put the mouthpiece
between your lips, please; you see, I do the same with mine. And when I
give you a word, speak as quickly as possible the association it brings
to your mind. For instance, I say 'noise.' Your first association might
be 'street,' 'band,' 'drum,' almost anything associated with the word.
As quickly as possible, please."

The first few words went simply enough. Wardrop's replies came almost
instantly. To "light" he replied "lamp;" "touch" brought the response
"hand;" "eat" brought "Burton," and both the doctor and I smiled.
Wardrop was intensely serious. Then--

"Taxicab," said the doctor, and, after an almost imperceptible pause,
"road" came the association. All at once I began to see the
possibilities.

"Desk." "Pen."

"Pipe." "Smoke."

"Head." After a perceptible pause the answer came uncertainly. "Hair."
But the association of ideas would not be denied, for in answer to the
next word, which was "ice," he gave "blood," evidently following up the
previous word "head."

I found myself gripping the arms of my chair. The dial on the doctor's
clock-like instrument was measuring the interval; I could see that now.
The doctor took a record of every word and its response. Wardrop's eyes
were shifting nervously.

"Hot." "Cold."

"White." "Black."

"Whisky." "Glass," all in less than a second.

"Pearls." A little hesitation, then "box."

"Taxicab" again. "Night."

"Silly." "Wise."

"Shot." After a pause, "revolver."

"Night." "Dark."

"Blood." "Head."

"Water." "Drink."

"Traveling-bag." He brought out the word "train" after an evident
struggle, but in answer to the next word "lost," instead of the obvious
"found," he said "woman." He had not had sufficient mental agility to
get away from the association with "bag." The "woman" belonged there.

"Murder" brought "dead," but "shot," following immediately after,
brought "staircase."

I think Wardrop was on his guard by that time, but the conscious effort
to hide truths that might be damaging made the intervals longer, from
that time on. Already I felt sure that Allan Fleming's widow had been
right; he had been shot from the locked back staircase. But by whom?

"Blow