ould like to examine you."

I shifted my gaze and recognized Dr. Symington-Tearle. The man pointed
to his boards.

"How about them things?"

"Oh, you can get rid of them. I'll pay you. Here is my card with the
address. I'll expect you in half-an-hour, and it will be well worth
while your coming."

Symington-Tearle moved away, and a sudden spasm of jealousy affected me
as I watched the well-shaped top-hat glittering down the street in the
strong sunlight. Why should Symington-Tearle be given an opportunity of
impressing a credulous world with some fantastic rubbish of his own
devising? I stepped into the road.

"Do you want a five-pound note?" I asked. The man jumped with surprise.
"Very well. Come round to this address at once."

I handed him my card. My next move was to telephone to the hospital to
say I would be late, and retrace my footsteps homewards.

My visitor arrived in a very short time, after handing over his boards
to a comrade on the understanding of suitable compensation, and was
shown into my study. Sarakoff was present, and he pored over the man's
nails and eyes and skin with rapt attention. At last he enquired how he
felt.

"Ain't never felt so well in me life," said the man. "I was saying to a
pal this morning 'ow well I felt."

"Do you feel as if you were drunk?" asked Sarakoff tentatively.

"Well, sir, now you put it that way, I feel as if I'd 'ad a good glass
of beer. Not drunk, but 'appy."

"Are you naturally cheerful?"

"I carn't say as I am, sir. My profession ain't a very cheery one, not
in all sorts and kinds of weather."

"But you are distinctly more cheerful this morning than usual?"

"I am, sir. I don't deny it. I lost my temper sudden like when that
crowd drew away from me as if I'd got the leprosy, and I'm usually a
mild and forbearin' man."

"Sit down," said Sarakoff. The man obeyed, and Sarakoff began to examine
him carefully. He told him once or twice not to speak, but the man
seemed in a loquacious mood and was incapable of silence for more than a
minute of time.

"And I ain't felt so clear 'eaded not for years," he remarked. "I seem
to see twice as many things to what I used to, and everything seems to
'ave a new coat of paint. I was saying to a pal early this morning what
a very fine place Trafalgar Square was and 'ow I'd never seemed to
notice it before, though I've known it all my life. And up Regent Street
I begun to notice all sort o' little things I'd never s