nce by offering me whisky
and cigars. I didn't think it worth while to beat about the bush, so I
began by saying that part of his evidence at the Harlesden Inquest
struck me as very peculiar, and I gave him the printed report, with the
sentences in question underlined. He just glanced at the slip, and gave
me a queer look. "It struck you as peculiar, did it?" said he. "Well,
you must remember that the Harlesden case was very peculiar. In fact, I
think I may safely say that in some features it was unique--quite
unique." "Quite so," I replied, "and that's exactly why it interests me,
and why I want to know more about it. And I thought that if anybody
could give me any information it would be you. What is your opinion of
the matter?"

'It was a pretty downright sort of question, and my doctor looked rather
taken aback.

'"Well," he said, "as I fancy your motive in inquiring into the question
must be mere curiosity, I think I may tell you my opinion with tolerable
freedom. So, Mr., Mr. Dyson? if you want to know my theory, it is this:
I believe that Dr. Black killed his wife."

'"But the verdict," I answered, "the verdict was given from your own
evidence."

'"Quite so; the verdict was given in accordance with the evidence of my
colleague and myself, and, under the circumstances, I think the jury
acted very sensibly. In fact, I don't see what else they could have
done. But I stick to my opinion, mind you, and I say this also. I don't
wonder at Black's doing what I firmly believe he did. I think he was
justified."

'"Justified! How could that be?" I asked. I was astonished, as you may
imagine, at the answer I had got. The doctor wheeled round his chair and
looked steadily at me for a moment before he answered.

'"I suppose you are not a man of science yourself? No; then it would be
of no use my going into detail. I have always been firmly opposed myself
to any partnership between physiology and psychology. I believe that
both are bound to suffer. No one recognizes more decidedly than I do the
impassable gulf, the fathomless abyss that separates the world of
consciousness from the sphere of matter. We know that every change of
consciousness is accompanied by a rearrangement of the molecules in the
grey matter; and that is all. What the link between them is, or why
they occur together, we do not know, and most authorities believe that
we never can know. Yet, I will tell you that as I did my work, the knife
in my hand, I