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"Perhaps you couldout his card "Tell Dr Starr that Pellinore Warthrop has come to see hi," she said, "with strict instruction he is not to be disturbed"

"My good woman, I assure you the doctor would not desire that you turn us away"

"The doctor is asleep"

"Then wake hi patience "My errand is one of the utency"

She squinted at the card, her eyes nearly disappearing in the plethora of flesh surrounding them

"‘Dr Warthrop,’" she read "Heh! Dr Warthrop is dead; I know that for a fact You must be an imposter"

"No, I am his son"

Her mouth moved soundlessly for a moment, and the old eyes darted froain

"He nevera son," she said at last "I as of a personal nature he failed to confide in you," said the doctor dryly "As I have pointed out, I am here on a matter of extreme importance, so if it’s not too much trouble, could you, in theyears is able, relay to your employer my presence and my earnest desire to speak with hiht becomes the morrow"

She slagerated sigh As the seconds turned to minutes, he did notupon his cane, head bowed, eyes half-closed, as if he were preserving his energy and gathering his wits for an i back?" I said when I could bear it no longer It felt as if we’d been standing on that porch for hours He said nothing I asked again, "Is she co back?"

"She didn’t throw the bolts," he said "Therefore, I am hopeful"

At last I heard hurried footsteps approach, and the door flew open, revealing an old h not quite as ancient as the crone who slumped in the hall a few steps behind hi a dusty frock coat over his nightshirt, but had neglected to address the issue of his bed- down nearly to his shoulder, a diaphanous curtain falling over his enor and sharp, his rheumy blue eyes small, his chin weak and speckled with stubble

"Dr Starr," said the ist "My name is Pellinore Warthrop I believe you knew my father"

"It is a pitiful case," the oldhis cup with a tremulous hand The china rattled and a brown tear of tea traced a path down the side of the cup "Of particular interest to your father"

"Not only to hi in the small parlor just off the front hall The room was like the rest of the house, chilly, ill-lit, and poorly ventilated A strange, sickly-sweet odor hung in the air I had noticed it e’d stepped inside-that and the indistinct, muffled noise of unseen people sohs, screaer, cries of fear, and, floating in faint counterpoint to this cacophony, hysterical peals of high-pitched laughter Both e bedla it only in the minor elevation of their voices I, however, found myself unnerved to the point of distraction and was forced to dip into the very botto the doctor if I could wait outside with the horses

"So you have taken up his odd profession," ventured the alienist "I shall be honest with you, Dr Warthrop: I did not know until this night that he even had a son"

"My father was an intensely private man," offered the doctor "He found human intimacy… distasteful I was his only child, and I hardly knew him"

"As is too often the case with a man like your father," observed Starr "His as everything"

"I always assumed it owed more to the fact that he didn’t likerattled deep in his chest

"Excusea stained white handkerchief froht it within an inch of his watery eyes and carefully exaave a rueful s"

"What is the diagnosis?" Warthrop asked politely He was the model of forbearance, but his foot tapped rapidly upon the worn carpeting

"There is none," said Starr "I didn’t say I am I said I fear that I am"

"A fear to which all are susceptible from time to time"

"In my case it is nearly constant Yet nosis increases in direct proportion with the fear"

"Interesting," said the doctor without much conviction