record of hundreds of cases like yours, and advise you what
treatment to follow. It's one of the commonest forms of
hallucination. Have a cigar, all the same."

"But, Allonby, I killed that man!"

The District Attorney's large hand, outstretched on his desk, had an
almost imperceptible gesture, and a moment later, as if an answer to
the call of an electric bell, a clerk looked in from the outer
office.

"Sorry, my dear fellow--lot of people waiting. Drop in on Stell some
morning," Allonby said, shaking hands.

McCarren had to own himself beaten: there was absolutely no flaw in
the alibi. And since his duty to his journal obviously forbade his
wasting time on insoluble mysteries, he ceased to frequent Granice,
who dropped back into a deeper isolation. For a day or two after his
visit to Allonby he continued to live in dread of Dr. Stell. Why
might not Allonby have deceived him as to the alienist's diagnosis?
What if he were really being shadowed, not by a police agent but by
a mad-doctor? To have the truth out, he suddenly determined to call
on Dr. Stell.

The physician received him kindly, and reverted without
embarrassment to the conditions of their previous meeting. "We have
to do that occasionally, Mr. Granice; it's one of our methods. And
you had given Allonby a fright."

Granice was silent. He would have liked to reaffirm his guilt, to