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Round The Red Lamp | Arthur Conan Doyle | |
The Third Generation. |
Page 3 of 7 |
Twice the young man parted his lips. Then he stooped with a sudden gesture, and turning up the right leg of his trousers he pulled down his sock and thrust forward his shin. The doctor made a clicking noise with his tongue as he glanced at it. "Both legs?" "No, only one." "Suddenly?" "This morning." "Hum." The doctor pouted his lips, and drew his finger and thumb down the line of his chin. "Can you account for it?" he asked briskly. "No." A trace of sternness came into the large brown eyes. "I need not point out to you that unless the most absolute frankness----" The patient sprang from his chair. "So help me God!" he cried, "I have nothing in my life with which to reproach myself. Do you think that I would be such a fool as to come here and tell you lies. Once for all, I have nothing to regret." He was a pitiful, half-tragic and half-grotesque figure, as he stood with one trouser leg rolled to the knee, and that ever present horror still lurking in his eyes. A burst of merriment came from the card-players in the next room, and the two looked at each other in silence. "Sit down," said the doctor abruptly, "your assurance is quite sufficient." He stooped and ran his finger down the line of the young man's shin, raising it at one point. "Hum, serpiginous," he murmured, shaking his head. "Any other symptoms?" "My eyes have been a little weak." "Let me see your teeth." He glanced at them, and again made the gentle, clicking sound of sympathy and disapprobation. |
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Round The Red Lamp Arthur Conan Doyle |
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