before me was that of a human being at all." There was some
surprise at this statement, as you may imagine, and the coroner asked
the doctor if he meant to say that the brain resembled that of an
animal. "No," he replied, "I should not put it in that way. Some of the
appearances I noticed seemed to point in that direction, but others, and
these were the more surprising, indicated a nervous organization of a
wholly different character from that either of man or the lower
animals." It was a curious thing to say, but of course the jury brought
in a verdict of death from natural causes, and, so far as the public was
concerned, the case came to an end. But after I had read what the doctor
said I made up my mind that I should like to know a good deal more, and
I set to work on what seemed likely to prove an interesting
investigation. I had really a good deal of trouble, but I was successful
in a measure. Though why--my dear fellow, I had no notion at the time.
Are you aware that we have been here nearly four hours? The waiters are
staring at us. Let's have the bill and be gone.'

The two men went out in silence, and stood a moment in the cool air,
watching the hurrying traffic of Coventry Street pass before them to the
accompaniment of the ringing bells of hansoms and the cries of the
newsboys; the deep far murmur of London surging up ever and again from
beneath these louder noises.

'It is a strange case, isn't it?' said Dyson at length. 'What do you
think of it?'

'My dear fellow, I haven't heard the end, so I will reserve my opinion.
When will you give me the sequel?'

'Come to my rooms some evening; say next Thursday. Here's the address.
Good-night; I want to get down to the Strand.' Dyson hailed a passing
hansom, and Salisbury turned northward to walk home to his lodgings.

II

Mr. Salisbury, as may have been gathered from the few remarks which he
had found it possible to introduce in the course of the evening, was a
young gentleman of a peculiarly solid form of intellect, coy and
retiring before the mysterious and the uncommon, with a constitutional
dislike of paradox. During the restaurant dinner he had been forced to
listen in almost absolute silence to a strange tissue of improbabilities
strung together with the ingenuity of a born meddler in plots and
mysteries, and it was with a feeling of weariness that he crossed
Shaftesbury Avenue, and dived into the recesses of Soho, for his
lodgings were in a modest