"Tell me, what is he like?" he asked eagerly.
The "Major," or rather, Doctor Meadows, as he really was, looked at him with a puzzled expression on his well-formed features.
"He is gigantic," was his answer, after a moment's pause; "terribly powerful and repulsively ugly, but pray have no fear on that account. I have him under the strongest lock and key that London can supply."
But Laurence's hopes had been dashed to the ground. The description of Meadows' patient was as dissimilar to that of the person in the barn as it was possible for it to be, and the lunatic was safely locked up downstairs!
The confidence with which the visitor had accepted the doctor's confession was destroyed. Meadows was lying to him, that was quite certain, and yet his story had a complexion of probability about it that deserved attention.
"Doctor!" cried Laurence sternly, "will you take your oath that you are telling me the truth?"
"This is an unpardonable insult," exclaimed Meadows in reply, rising to his feet and clenching his fists in the air. "How dare you insinuate that I am telling lies?"
"Keep calm, if you please, Doctor Meadows," said Carrington. "Prove your assertion by showing me this gigantic patient of yours."
Instantly there was a change in the doctor's behaviour. He collapsed into his seat with a groan of despair.
"That is impossible," he muttered.