The Lunatic at Large | Page 4

came a knock at the door, and a servant entered.
"A new case, sir. Want's to see Dr Congleton particular."
"A man or a woman?"
"Man, sir."
"All right," growled Sherlaw. "I'll come, confound him."
"Bad luck, old man," laughed Escott. "I'll wait here in case by any chance you want me."
He fell into his chair again, lit a cigarette, and sleepily turned over the pages of a book. Dr Sherlaw was away for a little time, and when he returned his cheerful face wore a somewhat mystified expression.
"Well?" asked Escott.
"Rather a rum case," said his colleague, thoughtfully.
"What's the matter?"
"Don't know."
"Who was it?"
"Don't know that either."
Escott opened his eyes.
"What happened, then?"
"Well," said Sherlaw, drawing his chair up to the fire again, "I'll tell you just what did happen, and you can make what you can out of it. Of course, I suppose it's all right, really, but--well, the proceedings were a little unusual, don't you know.
"I went down to the door, and there I found a four-wheeler with a man standing beside it. The door of the cab was shut, and there seemed to be two more men inside. This chap who'd got out--a youngish man--hailed me at once as though he'd bought the whole place.
" 'You Dr Congleton?'
" 'Damn your impertinence!' I said to myself, 'ringing people up at this hour, and talking like a bally drill-sergeant.'
"I told him politely I wasn't old Congers, but that I'd make a good enough substitute for the likes of him.
" 'I tell you what it is,' said the Johnnie, 'I've brought a patient for Dr Congleton, a cousin of mine, and I've got a doctor here, too. I want to see Dr Congleton.'
" 'He's probably in bed,' I said, 'but I'll do just as well. I suppose he's certified, and all that.'
" 'Oh, it's all right,' said the man, rather as though he expected me to say that it wasn't. He looked a little doubtful what to do, and then I heard some one inside the cab call him. He stuck his head in the window and they confabbed for a minute, and then he turned to me and said, with the most magnificent air you ever saw, like a chap buying a set of diamond studs, 'My friend here is a great personal friend of Dr Congleton, and it's a damned---- I mean it's an uncommonly delicate matter. We must see him.'
" 'Well, if you insist, I'll see if I can get him,' I said; 'but you'd better come in and wait.'
"So the Johnnie opened the door of the cab, and there was a great hauling and pushing, my friend pulling an arm from the outside, and the doctor shoving from within, and at last they fetched out their patient. He was a tall man, in a very smart-looking, long, light top-coat, and a cap with a large peak shoved over his eyes, and he seemed very unsteady on his pins.
" 'Drunk, by George!' I said to myself at first.
"The doctor--another young-looking man--hopped out after him, and they each took an arm, lugged their patient into the waiting-room, and popped him into an armchair. There he collapsed, and sat with his head hanging down as limp as a sucked orange.
"I asked them if anything was the matter with him.
" 'Only tired,--just a little sleepy,' said the cousin.
"And do you know, Escott, what I'd stake my best boots was the matter with him?"
"What?"
"The man was drugged!"
Escott looked at the fire thoughtfully.
"Well," he said, "it's quite possible; he might have been too violent to manage."
"Why couldn't they have said so, then?"
"H'm. Not knowing, can't say. What happened next?"
"Next thing was, I asked the doctor what name I should give. He answered in a kind of nervous way, 'No name; you needn't give any name. I know Dr Congleton personally. Ask him to come, please.' So off I tooled, and found old Congers just thinking of turning in.
" 'My clients are sometimes unnecessarily discreet', he remarked in his pompous way when I told him about the arrival, and of course he added his usual platitude about our reputation for discretion.
"I went back with him to the waiting-room, and just stood at the door long enough to see him hail the doctor chap very cordially and be introduced to the patient's cousin, and then I came away. Rather rum, isn't it?"
"You've certainly made the best of the yarn," said Escott with a laugh.
"By George, if you'd been there you'd have thought it funny too."
"Well, good-night, I'm off. We'll probably hear to-morrow what it's all about."
But in the morning there was little more to be learned about the new-comer's history and antecedents. Dr Congleton spoke of the matter to the two young men, with the pompous cough that signified extreme discretion.
"Brought by an old friend of mine," he said. "A curious