What is it that you want my opinion on ?" "The fact is," I said, "I am in a rather awkward dilemma, and I want you to tell me what you think I ought to do." Thorndyke paused in the act of refilling my cup and glanced at me with unmistakable anxiety.
"Nothing of an unpleasant nature, I hope," said he.
"No, no; nothing of that kind," I answered with a smile as I interpreted the euphemism; for "something unpleasant," in the case of a young and reasonably presentable medical man is ordinarily the equivalent of trouble with the female of his species.

"It is nothing that concerns me personally at all," I continued; "it is a question of professional responsibility.

But I had better give you an account of the affair in a complete narrative, as I know that you like to have your data in a regular and consecutive order." Thereupon I proceeded to relate the history of my visit to the mysterious Mr.Graves, not omitting any single circumstance or detail that I could recollect.
Thorndyke listened from the very beginning of my story with the closest attention.

His face was the most impassive that I have ever seen; ordinarily as inscrutable as a bronze mask; but to me, who knew him intimately, there was a certain something--a change of colour, perhaps, or an additional sparkle of the eye--that told me when his curious passion for investigation was fully aroused.

And now, as I told him of that weird journey and the strange, secret house to which it had brought me, I could see that it offered a problem after his very heart.