"If you will tell me how to unravel this tangle that is in my brain, you
will have my everlasting gratitude," declared Lester, earnestly.
"It takes people with nerves of steel to accomplish it. A person who is
nervous to the slightest degree would not dare to try it, for fear of
turning suddenly insane from the terrible mental struggle. Do you still
wish to know what it is?"
"Yes," responded Lester, "and I can use my judgment whether I dare try
it or not."
"Very good," replied the gentleman, "then here it is: Counting five
thousand backward will either restore your loss of memory, or, as I have
taken care to warn you gravely in advance, cause you to go insane. It
must be done rapidly, and in a given space of time. In my belief the
remedy is by far worse than the malady. I feel, somehow, as though I
ought not to have told you about it."
"Nonsense," said Lester. "You need have little fear of my trying it."
He thought of it, however, as the cab rolled rapidly along.
"I wonder if harm would result from my trying it?" he mused.
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