Page:The Poison Belt - Conan Doyle, 1913.djvu/81

 58  spoke in his absence. The situation seemed beyond all words or comments.

"The medical officer of health for Brighton," said he, when he returned. "The symptoms are for some reason developing more rapidly upon the sea-level. Our seven hundred feet of elevation give us an advantage. Folk seem to have learned that I am the first authority upon the question. No doubt it comes from my letter in the Times. That was the mayor of a provincial town with whom I talked when we first arrived. You may have heard me upon the telephone. He seemed to put an entirely inflated value upon his own life. I helped him to readjust his ideas."

Summerlee had risen and was standing by the window. His thin, bony hands were trembling with his emotion.

"Challenger," said he, earnestly, "this thing is too serious for mere futile argument. Do not suppose that I desire to irritate you by any question I may ask.