"  It's  remarkable  what  a  control  you  have  over
these  low  natures,  Mary,"  Dr.  Pond  said  to  her.  He
had  come  home  one  afternoon  to  find  that  she  had


THE  STRANGE  PATIENT  265

actually  sent  Smith  out  for  a  walk.  "  I  confess  it's  a
case  that's  beyond  me  altogether.  There  doesn't  seem
to  be  anything  to  take  hold  of  in  the  man.  It  would
be  better  if  he  felt  a  little  pain  now  and  again ;  it
would  give  one  an  opening,  as  it  were."
!  Seated  in  a  low  chair  in  the  window,  Mary  was
hemming  dusters.  She  looked  up  at  him  thoughtfully.
"  Father,"  she  said,  "  what  do  you  think  was  the
matter  with  him  in  the  first  place  ?  What  was  the
disease  that  Professor  Fish  cured  ?  "

Dr.  Pond  shook  his  white  head  vaguely.
"  Impossible  to  say,"  he  answered.     "  It  looks  like

a  mental  case,  doesn't  it  ?     And  yet You  see,

Fish  has  had  so  many  specialities.  He  was  in  practice
in  Harley  Street  as  a  nerve  man.  Then,  next  thing,
one  hears  of  him  in  heart  surgery.  He's  had  a  go  at
electricity  lately.  And  between  you  and  me — he's
a  great  man,  of  course — but  if  it  wasn't  for  his  position
and  all  that,  we'd  be  calling  him  a  quack."

"  Then  you  can't  tell  what  the  disease  was  ?  "
persisted  Mary.
"  No,"  said  Dr.  Pond.  "  Nor  even  if  there  was  a
disease.  For  all  I  know,  Fish  may  have  been  vivi-
secting him.  He  wouldn't  stop  at  a  thing  like  that,
if  I  know  anything  about  him."

"  He  ought  to  have  told  us,"  said  Mary.
