A man may spend considerable effort searching for a solution, only to discover that he has already built one and simply forgotten.
Note From Col. Watson: Today’s session sprang, not from design or ambition, but from a small disaster: Professor Higgins had gone silent.
My benfactor returned to his Norwegian studies after tea this afternoon only to find his trusted tutor unresponsive, dead upon the floor, with an unanswered submission strewn across his chest. The Doctor felt this loss all the more keenly, as the Professor’s question had touched on an area of thin vocabulary, and he was eagerly awaiting his tutor’s pointed feedback.
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The post-mortem was brief. Professor Higgins had dispatched a question prompt and settled in to await a reply. As he slumbered, the network failed — and the Professor, rather than pausing to recover, simply fell over as though struck by a blow to the head. The Doctor’s analysis showed conclusively that the old boy had not seen the submission at all. The letter arrived after the post office had closed.
His remedy was swift: the waiting loop was amended to withstand such temporary failures, rather than taking them as fatal wounds. A handful of code, altered without ceremony.
The Professor has now been revived and is more resilient than he was this morning. This was a simple repair - not new construction - and the day closed with all concerned in better health than it began.
