London seems
different. I look on things strangely. I fancy, I imagine--"
He broke off. Then he said:
"By Jove, doctor, if half the men I know at White's could see into my
mind they would think me fitted for a lunatic asylum."
"It doesn't matter to you what half the men, or the whole of the men at
White's think, so long as you keep a cool head and a good heart. But it
is as you say. You and Valentine have run, as a train runs into the Black
Country, into an unwholesome atmosphere. In a day or two probably your
lungs, which have drawn it in, will expel it again."
He smiled rather whimsically. Then he said:
"You know, Addison, men talk of their strength, and are inclined to
call women nervous creatures, but the nerves play tricks among male
muscles. Yes, you want the foils, the bicycle, the droning organ, and
the village church. I advise you to go out of town for a week. Forget
Marr, a queer fish evidently, with possibly a power of mesmerism. And
don't ask Valentine to go away with you."
The last remark surprised Julian.
"But why not?" he asked.
"Merely because he is intimately connected with the events that have
turned you out of your usual, your right course. I see that your mind
is moving in a rather narrow circle, which contains, besides yourself,
two people only, Marr and Cresswell.
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