work to do, and so have entered my name on Turcival's list of
eligibles."

Thorndyke pursed up his lips and frowned.

"It's a wicked shame, Jervis," said he presently, "that a man of your
abilities and scientific acquirements should be frittering away his
time on odd jobs like some half-qualified wastrel."

"It is," I agreed. "My merits are grossly undervalued by a stiff-necked
and obtuse generation. But what would you have, my learned brother? If
poverty steps behind you and claps the occulting bushel over your thirty
thousand candle-power luminary, your brilliancy is apt to be obscured."

"Yes, I suppose that is so," grunted Thorndyke, and he remained for a
time in deep thought.

"And now," said I, "let us have your promised explanation. I am
positively frizzling with curiosity to know what chain of circumstances
has converted John Evelyn Thorndyke from a medical practitioner into a
luminary of the law."

Thorndyke smiled indulgently.

"The fact is," said he, "that no such transformation has occurred. John
Evelyn Thorndyke is still a medical practitioner."

"What, in a wig and gown!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, a mere sheep in wolf's clothing," he replied. "I will tell you how