“Nothing. It came accidentally. I discovered that in raising his head to replace it against the upholstering of the chair in the position it had occupied before I shook him, I was unconsciously examining the back of his neck under his hair, which, as I have said, grows downward, quite out of sight below his collar—in fact, below his shirt band when he has no collar adjusted.”
“You were searching there unconsciously, you say?”
“Quite so, it would seem, since I realized suddenly what I was doing, and only realized it when my search revealed a speck of blood where it had oozed out and hardened into a crimson bead among the short hair on the back of his neck.”
“And then——”
“Then, still without a full realization of my acts, I wiped away the speck of blood with my handkerchief—wiped it away with great care and looked for the sign of a wound underneath the spot where it had been.”
“Did you find one?”
“Barely that; nothing more. Just a little mark like the prick of a pin, turned blue, and altogether unnoticeable unless you should search diligently for it. I shall come to that again, sir, later, but it belongs with that part of my story which has the second beginning.”
“Very good. For the present stick to the text you are on. What did you do next?”
“I think in all that I did then I acted automatically. I replaced his head in position with great care. I even walked around in front of him to see that he looked quite as naturally asleep as when I first discovered him.”
“And then——”