“Good God!” he gasped. “You horrify me!”

He was not exaggerating. In his agitation, he stepped forward into the lighter part of the room, and I could see that his face was pale to ghastliness⁠—except his nose and the adjacent red patches on his cheeks, which stood out in grotesquely hideous contrast. Presently, however, he recovered a little and said:

“I really think⁠—at least I hope⁠—that you take an unnecessarily serious view of his condition. He has been like this before, you know.”

I felt pretty certain that he had not, but there was no use in discussing the question. I therefore replied, as I continued my efforts to rouse the patient:

“That may or may not be. But in any case there comes a last time; and it may have come now.”

“I hope not,” he said; “although I understand that these cases always end fatally sooner or later.”

“What cases?” I asked.