IN WHICH DOCTOR HOYLE SPEAKS HIS MIND

Doctor Hoyle sat in his office staring straight before him, not as if he were looking at David Thryng, who sat in range of his vision, but as if seeing beyond him into some other time and place. David had been speaking, but now they both were silent, and the young man wondered if his old friend had really been paying attention to his words or not.

“Well, Doctor,” he said at last.

“Well, David.”

“You don’t seem satisfied. Is it with my condition?”

“Your condition? No, no, no! It’s not your condition. Yes, yes — fine, fine. I never saw such a marvellous change in my life, never!”