It was certainly amazing, but I could not but believe him. "You startle and you interest me deeply," I replied. "You are to be congratulated." "I am--on a unique human possession. Well, you can't have failed to see what I'm driving at. I will lend you this man, place his services entirely at your disposal, for a month!" For a moment or two I was silent. I believed every word that Van Adams said, and I was not hesitating--only just letting the offer, and what it meant, sink into my mind. It became plain. It was like the offer of a rope-ladder to a man in prison, a light and a pickaxe to an entombed miner. "It is the most generous offer I've ever heard of, Mr. Van Adams. I can't express my thanks. You really mean this?" "I do. And as an ounce of proof is worth a ton of talk--allow me to introduce you to Mr. Danjuro!" He turned round as he spoke and I with him. Then I gave a cry of astonishment, which I could not have kept back to save my life. Standing some yard or so away was a little Japanese gentleman, not much more than five feet high. He wore gold pince-nez, a neat blue lounge suit and brown boots. There was nothing noticeable about him in any way, except an unusually fine cranial development--a massive forehead and a great space between the corners of the dark eyes and the ears. "Good heavens, how did he get here?" I said. Van Adams laughed. "I daresay he'll tell you; I don't know," he answered. "I just told him to be here. I wanted to give you an object lesson, in fact. Now, Mr. Danjuro knows all that I know. You can trust him absolutely. He knows what is in front of him, and he knows where to find me when I'm wanted. Now I'll leave you together and say good-afternoon." He was gone almost before I could thank him. CHAPTER VI MR. DANJURO, THINKING MACHINE, EXPLAINS HIMSELF "Won't you sit down?" I said foolishly. The little Japanese bowed politely and did so. I was at a loss what to say. My mind was in a whirl. I wanted to laugh, to call Van Adams back, but my dominating sensation was one of supreme annoyance. So this natty, commonplace little Asiatic was the millionaire's "familiar spirit"! He was unique, was he! I cursed myself for several kinds of fool to have saddled myself with this amazing stranger at the beginning of my work. At any rate, I reflected irritably, as I sat down opposite, I could easily send him off on some wild-goose chase or another.... Yes! I was never more annoyed in my life, and my annoyance lasted for exactly sixty seconds. Without the slightest embarrassment of any sort, and with no preliminaries at all, Mr. Danjuro plunged into business. His voice was clear and low. He had no accent of any kind, though his English was a trifle pedantic and scholarly. He spoke as impersonally as a gramophone. "... I am entirely with you, Sir John, in your opinion that it is not in the United States of America, but here--in England--that we shall solve the mystery surrounding this dark business."