"That is true."
"How much do you know?"
"I know all there is to be known."
"Ah!" Sir Robert leaned forward. Lord Alberan nodded violently and glared at me. There was a pause. "What you say is very interesting," said Sir Robert at length, keeping his eyes fixed upon me. "You understand, of course, that the Blue Disease is causing a lot of anxiety?"
"Anxiety?" I exclaimed. "Surely you are wrong. It has the opposite effect. It abolishes anxiety."
"You mean——?" he queried politely.
"I mean that the germ, when once in the system, produces an atmosphere of extraordinary calm," I returned. "I am aware of that atmosphere at this moment. I have never felt so perfectly tranquil before."
He nodded, without moving his eyes.
"So I see. You struck me, as you came into the room, as a man who is at peace with himself." Lord Alberan snorted, and was about to speak, but Sir Robert held up his hand. "Tell me, Dr. Harden, did you actually contaminate the water of Birmingham?"
"My friend Sarakoff and I introduced the germ that we discovered into the Elan reservoirs."