"Not from any symptoms that I can discover," the doctor answered. "Yet, as I told you before, there are certain things about his condition which I do not understand. I should like to see him again in the morning! I am giving him a tonic, more as a matter of form. I scarcely think his system will respond to it!"
"It has not occurred to you, I suppose," I remarked, "that he might be suffering from poisoning?"
The doctor shook his head.
"There are no traces of anything of the sort," he declared. "My own impression is that he has been taking some sort of drug."
"Will you come in and have something?" I asked, as we neared the house.
The doctor shook his head.
"Not to-night," he answered; "I have another call to pay."
So I went back into the house alone, and found my guest waiting for me in some impatience. He was lying upon a sofa, piled up with cushions, and the extreme pallor of his face alarmed me.
"Give me some brandy and soda," he demanded. "Your village Aesculapius has been prodding me about, till I scarcely know where I am."
I hastened to the sideboard and attended to his wants.