I looked at the man narrowly before answering, and distrusted him more than ever.  But this was no time for reticence.  My concern was with the patient and his present needs.  After all, I was, as Thorndyke had said, a doctor, not a detective, and the circumstances called for straightforward speech and action on my part.

“I have considered that question,” I said, “and have come to a perfectly definite conclusion.  His symptoms are not those of sleeping sickness.  They are in my opinion undoubtedly due to morphine poisoning.”

“But my dear sir!” he exclaimed, “the thing is impossible!  Haven’t I just told you that he has been watched continuously?”

“I can only judge by the appearances that I find,” I answered; and, seeing that he was about to offer fresh objections, I continued:  “Don’t let us waste precious time in discussion, or Mr. Graves may be dead before we have reached a conclusion.  If you will hurry them up about the coffee that I asked for some time ago, I will take the other necessary measures, and perhaps we may manage to pull him round.”

The rather brutal decision of my manner evidently daunted him.  It must have been plain to him that I was not prepared to accept any explanation of the unconscious man’s condition other than that of morphine poisoning; whence the inference was pretty plain that the alternatives were recovery or an inquest.  Replying stiffly that I “must do as I thought best,” he hurried from the room, leaving me to continue my efforts without further interruption.

For some time these efforts seemed to make no impression.  The man lay as still and impassive as a corpse excepting for the slow, shallow and rather irregular breathing with its ominous accompanying rattle.  But presently, by imperceptible degrees, signs of returning life began to make their appearance.  A sharp slap on the cheek with the wet towel produced a sensible flicker of the eyelids; a similar slap on the chest was followed by a slight gasp.  A pencil, drawn over the sole of the foot, occasioned a visible shrinking movement, and, on looking once more at the eyes, I detected a slight change that told me that the atropine was beginning to take effect.

This was very encouraging, and, so far, quite satisfactory, though it would have been premature to rejoice.  I kept the patient carefully covered and maintained the process of gentle irritation, moving his limbs and shoulders, brushing his hair and generally bombarding his deadened senses with small but repeated stimuli.  And under this treatment, the improvement continued so far that on my bawling a question into his ear he actually opened his eyes for an instant, though in another moment, the lids had sunk back into their former position.

Soon after this, Mr. Weiss re-entered the room, followed by Mrs. Schallibaum, who carried a small tray, on which were a jug of coffee, a jug of milk, a cup and saucer and a sugar basin.