Chapter 17

He looked at me intently for a moment before replying. Dr. Winchester's gaze at such moments was alarming. It would have been so for me if I had had a personal part, other than my interest in Miss Trelawney, in the matter. As it was, however, it stood still. I was now a lawyer in the case; Friend of the Court in one sense, and in the other reserved for the defense. The mere thought that the mind of this clever man consisted of two lines, equal in strength and opposite, was in itself so comforting as to negate my anxiety of a new attack. As he began to speak, the doctor's face smiled mysteriously. This, however, gave place to an extreme gravity as it progressed:

"Two lines: Fact and Fiction! In the beginning there is this whole thing; the attacks and attempted robberies and murders; the deceptions; and the organized error which refers either to criminal hypnosis and suggestion of thought, or some simple form of intoxication not yet classified in our toxicology and on the other