.

'No, or rather yes and no. You have a very interesting collection
here, but it's getting so dark I can hardly see.'

'I close at half-past five, sir.'

'Ah, in that case,' I said, consulting my watch, 'I shall be pleased
to call some other time.'

'Thank you, sir,' replied Summertrees quietly, and with that I took my
leave.

From the corner of an alley on the other side of the street I saw him
put up the shutters with his own hands, then he emerged with overcoat
on, and the money satchel slung across his shoulder. He locked the
door, tested it with his knuckles, and walked down the street,
carrying under one arm the pamphlets he had been addressing. I
followed him some distance, saw him drop the pamphlets into the box at
the first post office he passed, and walk rapidly towards his house in
Park Lane.

When I returned to my flat and called in my assistant, he said,--

'After putting to one side the regular advertisements of pills, soap,
and what not, here is the only one common to all the newspapers,
morning and evening alike. The advertisements are not identical, sir,
but they have two points of similarity, or perhaps I should say three.
They all profess to furnish a cure for absent-mindedness; they all ask
that the applicant's chief hobby shall be stated, and they all bear
the same address: Dr. Willoughby, in Tottenham Court Road.'

'Thank you,' said I, as he placed the scissored advertisements before
me.

I read several of the announcements. They were all small, and perhaps
that is why I had never noticed one of them in the newspapers, for
certainly they were odd enough. Some asked for lists of absent-minded
men, with the hobbies of each, and for these lists, prizes of from one
shilling to six were offered. In other clippings Dr. Willoughby
professed to be able to cure absent-mindedness. There were no fees, and
no treatment, but a pamphlet would be sent, which, if it did not benefit
the receiver, could do no harm. The doctor was unable to meet patients
personally, nor could he enter into correspondence with them. The
address was the same as that of the old curiosity shop in Tottenham
Court Road. At this juncture I pulled the pamphlet from my pocket, and
saw it was entitled _Christian Science and Absent-Mindedness_, by Dr.
Stamford Willoughby, and at the end of the article was the statement
contained in the advertisements, that Dr Willoughby would neither see
patients nor hold any correspondence with th