The old housekeeper had indeed a long series of eccentricities to record
to Salis, speaking freely to him, as to her master's firmest friend,
though what she knew and had diminished in intensity more than magnified
was but a tithe of that which had occurred.
For it had been a terrible period for the young doctor. Half wrecked by
the mental and bodily injuries he had received, the course he had
pursued in shutting himself up alone, dreading to be surprised in
suddenly uttering some wild speech or committing some vagary, had
intensified the abnormal condition of his brain till his sufferings
seemed to grow unbearable.
One hour he felt at peace, the next he had none, and asked himself what
he was to do to escape the terrible unseen presence that was always with
him, never addressing him, but, as it were, making his body the medium
by which he communicated with the world.
"I can bear it no longer," North said to himself at last. "There must
be rest for me if I cannot shake it off."
He shuddered slightly as he paced his darkened room, knowing
instinctively how many steps to take in each direction, and what to
avoid. For Death, familiar as it was to him, was not without its
terrors.
He was so young, and, as it seemed now, the hopes of the past arose once
more before him, the faith in the prizes of fame which he would win, his
love for Leo, and the promises which had led him on.
But so sure as these thoughts assumed form there was another to rise
like a dense cloud of horror and cover everything, as he felt that, come
what might, he would be haunted ever by this unseen presence--the spirit
which he had freed from its envelope of clay--and this could have but
one end.
He felt that he had tried everything. He had forced himself to
calmness, and marked out course after course of treatment such as he
would have prescribed to some poor wretch who had consulted him in such
a case; and when all was still at night he had stolen down to his
surgery, and mingled for his own use sedatives and tonics, but all to no
effect. If anything, his malady increased.
Two days before Salis had gone over to King's Hampton, Cousin Thompson
came once more to his bedroom door, to beg that he would come down and
see his friend.
"It is impossible," he had replied hoarsely.
"But he has come down again, vastly improved by your treatment; and
without you he feels that he would be a dying man. Come, you cannot
refuse."
North held out for a time, and at last gave way, more from the desire of
getting rid of his cousin and the patient than from any wish to repeat
his advice.
"I'll come this time," he said; "but this visit must be final. There
are hundreds of doctors who can advise the man better than I."
"Doubtless," said Cousin Thompson; "but that is not the point. There is
not one in any of those hundreds in whom my poor friend will have the
faith that he has in you."
The argument was unanswerable.
"I will be down in a few minutes," North said; and trying hard to master
the nervous feeling which came over him, and wondering whether he could
get through the interview without some absurd utterance, he drew aside
the blind to accustom his eyes once more to the light.
It was some moments before he could face it, and then he looked
despairingly at the wan, haggard face before him in the glass.
He shrank from it at first, but looked again and again, without the
feeling of horror that had pervaded him before. His countenance was
changed, and terribly wan and drawn; eyes and cheeks were sunken, so
that the former seemed set in deep, cavernous holes; but as he gazed he
did not seem to dread the sound of mocking laughter, or of some strange
utterance which he could not control, and proceeded to make himself
somewhat more presentable for those below.
"And they come to me for help," he muttered, "who want it more than any
man on earth."
As he opened his door he frowned, for he caught sight of the old
housekeeper hastily beating a retreat, and a shiver ran through him as
he felt how he was watched.
But he went on down into the hall, where a low murmur of voices told him
that his visitors were in the drawing-room.
What followed was a matter of a minute or two.
He entered the room quickly, his coming having been unheard; and Cousin
Thompson, who was speaking earnestly to the two gentlemen from town,
started quickly away and then said hastily:
"Ah, North! Why, you seem better. Let me get you a chair. You want no
introductions, and I'll leave you together."
He approached North with a chair, and the latter took it, gazing keenly
at the visitors the while; but as Thompson was passing he caught him by
the collar and checked him, holding him fast, as he threw the chair from
him with a crash.
Thompson turned white as so much curd, and tried for a moment to
extricate himself, but his cousin's grasp was like iron, and he turned a
pitiable face to the two visitors, the taller of whom advanced quickly.
"My dear Dr North," he said, "pray be calm. Another seat, my dear sir;
pray sit down."
North seemed as if he had not heard him. He had searchingly gazed from
one to the other, and then his eyes appeared to blaze as his left hand
joined his right at Thompson's throat.
"You cursed, treacherous, cowardly hound!" he literally yelled, and
dashing him backward, so that he fell with a crash against a table,
which was overturned, North strode from the room without another word,
and made the house echo with the bang he gave the door.
Thompson did not attempt to rise till the visitors held out their hands
to assist him to a couch.
"My dear sir, are you hurt?" asked the first man.
"Hurt!" cried Thompson savagely. "Could you be half strangled and then
thrown down without being hurt? But you see now. You doubted before:
you see now."
"Yes, perfectly," said the second visitor calmly. "Oh, yes, I think
that we are quite satisfied now. What do you say?"
"Perfectly," said the first slowly; and as soon as the lawyer had
satisfied himself that he was not seriously hurt, they adjourned to the
library, where Mrs Milt was summoned to provide sherry and biscuits;
and soon after the two visitors re-entered their carriage, and were
driven back to King's Hampton in time to catch the first train back to
town.
Volume 3, Chapter XIII.