e professional habit of rapid
and close observation caused me to direct a searching glance at the man
before me. It was only a brief glance--for Mr. Weiss, perhaps
embarrassed by my keen regard of him, almost immediately withdrew into
the shadow--and my attention seemed principally to be occupied by the
odd contrast between the pallor of his face and the redness of his nose
and by the peculiar stiff, bristly character of his eyebrows. But there
was another fact, and a very curious one, that was observed by me
subconsciously and instantly forgotten, to be revived later when I
reflected on the events of the night. It was this:

As Mr. Weiss stood, with his head slightly turned, I was able to look
through one glass of his spectacles at the wall beyond. On the wall was
a framed print; and the edge of the frame, seen through the
spectacle-glass, appeared quite unaltered and free from distortion,
magnification or reduction, as if seen through plain window-glass; and
yet the reflections of the candle-flame in the spectacles showed the
flame upside down, proving conclusively that the glasses were concave on
one surface at least. The strange phenomenon was visible only for a
moment or two, and as it passed out of my sight it passed also out of my
mind.

"No," I said, replying to the last question; "I can think of no way in
which he could have effectually hidden a store of morphine. Judging by
the symptoms, he has taken a large dose, and, if he has been in the
habit of consuming large quantities, his stock would be pretty bulky. I
can offer no suggestion whatever."

"I suppose you consider him quite out of danger now?"

"Oh, not at all. I think we can pull him round if we persevere, but he
must not be allowed to sink back into a state of coma. We must keep him
on the move until the effects of the drug have really passed off. If you
will put him into his dressing-gown we will walk him up and down the
room for a while."

"But is that safe?" Mr. Weiss asked anxiously.

"Quite safe," I answered. "I will watch his pulse carefully. The danger
is in the possibility, or rather certainty, of a relapse if he is not
kept moving."

With obvious unwillingness and disapproval, Mr. Weiss produced a
dressing-gown and together we invested the patient in it. Then we
dragged him, very limp, but not entirely unresisting, out of bed and
stood him on his feet. He opened his eyes and blinked owlishly first at
one and then at the other of us, a