The Lunatic at Large | Page 4

medical knowledge was almost equal to the affability
of their manners and the excellence of their family connections.
One November night these two were sitting over a comfortable fire in
Sherlaw's room. Twelve o'clock struck, Escott finished the remains of
something in a tumbler, rose, and yawned sleepily.
"Time to turn in, young man," said he.
"I suppose it is," replied Sherlaw, a very pleasant and boyish young
gentleman. "Hullo! What's that? A cab?"
They both listened, and some way off they could just pick out a sound
like wheels upon gravel.
"It's very late for any one to be coming in," said Escott.
The sound grew clearer and more unmistakably like a cab rattling
quickly up the drive.

"It is a cab," said Sherlaw.
They heard it draw up before the front door, and then there came a
pause.
"Who the deuce can it be?" muttered Escott.
In a few minutes there 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