"And that mark on his skin, for instance?" I inquired.

"Merely the marks produced by hysterical brooding," he replied, "like
the stigmata of the _religieuses_, and the bruises which appear on the
bodies of hypnotised subjects who have been told to expect them. This is
very common and easily explained. Only it seems curious that these marks
should have remained so long in Vezin's case. Usually they disappear
quickly."

"Obviously he is still thinking about it all, brooding, and living it
all over again," I ventured.

"Probably. And this makes me fear that the end of his trouble is not
yet. We shall hear of him again. It is a case, alas! I can do little to
alleviate."

Dr. Silence spoke gravely and with sadness in his voice.

"And what do you make of the Frenchman in the train?" I asked
further--"the man who warned him against the place, _à cause du sommeil
et à cause des chats?_ Surely a very singular incident?"

"A very singular incident indeed," he made answer slowly, "and one I can
only explain on the basis of a highly improbable coincidence--"

"Namely?"

"That the man was one who had himself stayed in the town and undergone
there a similar experience. I should like to find this man and ask him.
But the crystal is useless here, for I have no slightest clue to go