Professor Goodman stirred uneasily in his chair.
“I really can hardly believe all this,” he said at length. “Why is all this deception necessary? Why have I to pose as your brother? And why, above all, have you tortured me?”
“Let me answer your last point first if I can,” said Mr. Robinson. “And yet I can’t. Even if I can persuade you to forgive me, I never shall be able to forgive myself. Sudden anger, Professor, makes men do strange things—dreadful things. And I was furious with rage when I found that you had deliberately failed in the experiment. I realise now that I should have explained everything to you to start with. But I suppose my hatred of Peterson and my wish for revenge blinded me to other things. Everything, as I have told you, is subservient to that in my mind. Bringing yo
