The surgeon stopped what he was doing and reappraised my friend. ‘Do I have a criminal in my midst? Put that down, I say, and go and sit over there by the door. You are a damnable distraction, man!’

I craned my neck to see Holmes wiping off the bloody arrow tip with his handkerchief. He pulled off the tip from the arrow shaft and pocketed it.

‘Evidence,’ he said with a smile.

Macready shook his head.

‘It is true. I do need to be back on my feet shortly,’ I said. ‘How much do I risk by activity, please?’

‘Ach, you put me in mind of a college footballer whose lady love shot him in the leg accidentally. He was out dancing the following week, then took half a year to recover.’

‘No dancing, I promise.’

‘Well … I’ll patch you up good. You’ll be as well as you choose to treat yourself, Doctor. ’Twere me, I’d catch up on my reading and run about with this gaolbird much less than I’m guessing you might.’

‘Can you give him something for the pain – something that will not fog his brain?’ asked Holmes.

‘You have need of my brain?’ I almost laughed. ‘Ow! The anaesthetic is wearing off, Doctor.’

‘I know. Almost finished. Who shot you, man?’

‘I am not sure—’

‘Oh, come, Watson, you know exactly who did this,’ said my friend.

‘Well, I hope he is brought to justice,’ said the surgeon.

‘She,’ said Holmes. ‘And I doubt it. Although Eden-Summers is reporting this to her father as we speak.’

She? I closed my eyes and lay back. Of course. ‘Atalanta Wyndham,’ I said.

‘She shot you through the curtain, Watson. I believe she mistook your silhouette for Freddie’s. He was in the room with you, remember?’

‘But I thought she had feelings for Freddie?’

‘Watson, think! A few days ago he announced his engagement to her sister. Passion is like an alternating current. Love in one direction, and when reversed, equally strong hatred.’

‘It sounds as though you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, Doctor,’ said the surgeon.

A groan escaped me as the dull ache grew into something keener and more difficult to ignore. I felt a sharp prick and looked down to see the surgeon injecting something near the bandaged wound.

‘I am giving you a little more local anaesthetic, Doctor. Short term, however.’

‘Can you not give him something else for later? Something that will not dull his brain?’ asked Holmes.

‘You ask me again?’ Macready looked up and stared hard at Holmes. ‘Like a little cocaine, for instance? An injectible solution?’

‘Yes.’ Holmes said. ‘For later?’

The surgeon smiled at him. ‘May I have a look at your arm?’

‘Mine? Certainly not!’

The doctor looked down at me. ‘Dr Watson, I will leave this to you.’