"We were afraid it would upset her too much," I answered, and then suddenly realising the point of the question, I added, "but how on earth did you know we hadn't?" "Because," he said thoughtfully, "if you had, she strikes me as the sort of girl who would have asked me straight away what I thought I could do for him." "You seem to understand human nature as well as you do science," I said admiringly. "The two are identical, or at least co-incident, Mr. Ewart," he replied solemnly. "But what was it you _did_ tell her?" "We said he was suffering from a sort of eczema, which looked as if it might be infectious, and we thought she ought not to be near him for a bit. Otherwise, of course, she would have wanted him with her all the time." When the examination was over for the time being, I chained Sholto to a hook in an old harness-rack, for he was strong and unused to captivity, and the door had no lock, only a small bolt outside. Garnesk packed away his instruments, carried them carefully to the house, and then we sprinted upstairs to dress hurriedly for dinner. Myra, poor child, was sensitive about joining us, but the specialist was very anxious that she should do so, and we all dined together. There was no allusion whatever to the strange events which had brought us together, but, with my professional knowledge of the mysteries of cross-examination, I noticed that Garnesk contrived to acquire more knowledge of various circumstances on which he seemed to wish to be enlightened than Sir Gaire Olvery had gleaned from forty minutes' blunt questioning. Myra had hardly left us after the meal was over when the butler handed the General a card, and almost simultaneously a tall, shadowy figure passed the window along the verandah. "'Pon my soul, that's kind of him," said the simple-hearted old man. "Run after him, Ronald, and fetch him back." "Who is it?" I asked, rising. "'Mr. J. G. Hilderman wishes to express his sympathy with General McLeod in his daughter's illness.' Very neighbourly indeed." I ran out after Hilderman, and found that his long legs had taken him nearly half-way to the landing-stage by the time I overtook him. He stopped as I called his name. "Why, Mr. Ewart," he exclaimed in surprise, "you back again already? I hope you had a very satisfactory interview with the specialist." I told him briefly that our visit to London had given us no satisfaction at all, and gave him the General's invitation to come up to the house. "I wouldn't think of it, Mr. Ewart," he declared emphatically. "Very kind of General McLeod, but he don't want to worry with strangers just now."