passenger in the train must get out at once. There ARE easier
things than this? Things that need less courage than this? Some of
THEM I could have done, I dare say. This thing I was going to do.
Oh, I was determined that I would do it--directly.

"I had said all I had to say about Brett's hands. I had brought my
entertainment to an end. I had been thanked and complimented all
round. I was quite at liberty. I was going to do what I had to do. I was
determined, yes.

"We were near the outskirts of London. The air was gray,
thickening; and Dorothy Elbourn had said: 'Oh, this horrible old London!
I suppose there's the same old fog!' And presently I heard her father
saying something about 'prevention' and 'a short act of Parliament' and
'anthracite.' And I sat and listened and agreed and--"

Laider closed his eyes. He passed his hand slowly through the air.

"I had a racking headache. And when I said so, I was told not to
talk. I was in bed, and the nurses were always telling me not to talk. I
was in a hospital. I knew that; but I didn't know why I was there. One
day I thought I should like to know why, and so I asked. I was feeling
much better now. They told me by degrees that I had had concussion of
the brain. I had been brought there unconscious, and had remained
unconscious for forty-eight hours. I had been in an accident--a
railway-accident. This seemed to me odd. I had arrived quite safely at
my uncle's place, and I had no memory of any journey since that. In
cases of concussion, you know, it's not uncommon for the patient to
forget all that happened just before the accident; there may be a blank for
several hours. So it was in my case. One day my uncle was allowed to