“Is the Gnome ill?”

“Worse.”

“Mad?”

“Haunted.”

“Since when has your practice branched out into the supernatural, doctor?”

“Oh, as for that, his trouble is physical too.”

“Is it anything that a simple lay mind could grasp?”

The Little Red Doctor grunted. “His legs have turned to lamp-wicking. I don't vouch for the diagnosis. It's his own.”

“Paralysis?” I hazarded.

“Grip,” was the Little Red Doctor's curt rejoinder.