o please don't try to
dissuade me. I have been feeling quite uncomfortable at the thought
that, all the time I have been in your employ, I seem to have done
nothing but idle about and amuse myself. The opportunity of doing
something tangible for my wage is too precious to be allowed to slip."

Thorndyke chuckled indulgently. "You shall do as you please, my dear
boy," he said; "but don't imagine that you have been eating the bread of
idleness. When you see this Hornby case worked out in detail, you will
be surprised to find how large a part you have taken in unravelling it.
Your worth to me has been far beyond your poor little salary, I can
assure you."

"It is very handsome of you to say that," I said, highly gratified to
learn that I was really of use, and not, as I had begun to suspect, a
mere object of charity.

"It is perfectly true," he answered; "and now, since you are going to
help me in this case, I will set you your task. The case, as I have
said, appears to be quite simple, but it never does to take the
simplicity for granted. Here is the letter from the solicitors giving
the facts as far as they are known at present. On the shelves there you
will find Casper, Taylor, Guy and Ferrier, and the other authorities on
medical jurisprudence, and I will put out one or two other books that
you may find useful. I want you to extract and make classified notes of
everything that may bear on such a case as the present one may turn out
to be. We must go prepared to meet any contingency that may arise. This
is my invariable practice, and even if the case turns out to be quite
simple, the labour is never wasted, for it represents so much experience
gained."

"Casper and Taylor are pretty old, aren't they?" I objected.

"So is suicide," he retorted drily. "It is a capital mistake to neglect
the old authorities. 'There were strong men before Agamemnon,' and some
of them were uncommonly strong, let me tell you. Give your best
attention to the venerable Casper and the obsolete Taylor and you will
not be without your reward."

As a result of these injunctions, I devoted the remainder of the day to
the consideration of the various methods by which a man might contrive
to effect his exit from the stage of human activities. And a very
engrossing study I found it, and the more interesting in view of the
problem that awaited solution on the morrow; but yet not so engrossing
but that I was able to find time to write a long, rath