I scolded him for it, but he argued quietly that it was very good and very wholesome, that it was life, strong life, and gave life to him.  This gave me an idea, or the rudiment of one.  I must watch how he gets rid of his spiders.

He has evidently some deep problem in his mind, for he keeps a little notebook in which he is always jotting down something.  Whole pages of it are filled with masses of figures, generally single numbers added up in batches, and then the totals added in batches again, as though he were focussing some account, as the auditors put it.

8 July.—­There is a method in his madness, and the rudimentary idea in my mind is growing.  It will be a whole idea soon, and then, oh, unconscious cerebration, you will have to give the wall to your conscious brother.

I kept away from my friend for a few days, so that I might notice if there were any change.  Things remain as they were except that he has parted with some of his pets and got a new one.

He has managed to get a sparrow, and has already partially tamed it.  His means of taming is simple, for already the spiders have diminished.  Those that do remain, however, are well fed, for he still brings in the flies by tempting them with his food.

19 July—­We are progressing.  My friend has now a whole colony of sparrows, and his flies and spiders are almost obliterated.  When I came in he ran to me and said he wanted to ask me a great favour, a very, very great favour.  And as he spoke, he fawned on me like a dog.

I asked him what it was, and he said, with a sort of rapture in his voice and bearing, “A kitten, a nice, little, sleek playful kitten, that I can play with, and teach, and feed, and feed, and feed!”

I was not unprepared for this request, for I had noticed how his pets went on increasing in size and vivacity, but I did not care that his pretty family of tame sparrows should be wiped out in the same manner as the flies and spiders.  So I said I would see about it, and asked him if he would not rather have a cat than a kitten.

His eagerness betrayed him as he answered, “Oh, yes, I would like a cat!  I only asked for a kitten lest you should refuse me a cat.  No one would refuse me a kitten, would they?”

I shook my head, and said that at present I feared it would not be possible, but that I would see about it.  His face fell, and I could see a warning of danger in it, for there was a sudden fierce, sidelong look which meant killing.  The man is an undeveloped homicidal maniac.  I shall test him with his present craving and see how it will work out, then I shall know more.

10 pm.—­I have visited him again and found him sitting in a corner brooding.  When I came in he threw himself on his knees before me and implored me to let him have a cat, that his salvation depended upon it.

I was firm, however, and told him that he could not have it, whereupon he went without a word, and sat down, gnawing his fingers, in the corner where I had found him.  I shall see him in the morning early.