HUGH GORDON TELLS HIS STORY
Dr. Annister dismissed his last patient and looked at his watch. It
was nine o'clock and Felix Brand, he thought, was probably in the
waiting room. His face was even paler than usual and its deep lines
told of pain, anxiety and spent strength. He sat down, his head upon
his hand and his thoughts upon his daughter.
"Poor child!" he said to himself. "It will go hard with her. But there
can be no 'ifs' or 'ands' about it now. Her mother must take her away
where there will be no possibility of her seeing him again. Poor
little girl!"
He rose with a weary sigh and crossed to the door into the waiting
room. As he threw it open a man at the farther side of the room arose
and came toward him with a quick, firm stride and a confident manner.
He saw at once that it was not Felix Brand.
"Good evening, Dr. Annister," said the stranger. "I know you were
expecting to see Mr. Brand, but I have come in his place. I am Hugh
Gordon."
"I am glad to see you, Mr. Gordon," the doctor replied, his interest
at once at high pitch. "You can tell me the other side of the case. I
met you once before, I believe. Will you come in?"
The physician cast a keen glance at his visitor and said to himself,
astonished, that he would never have believed this physical envelope
to be the same that housed the man with whom he had talked a few hours
before. Feature and coloring were there, it was true, but a different
soul animated the body and lighted the countenance and made of the
whole another man. The tell-tale signs of evil living had vanished
from the face, and so also had its expression of ultra refinement
and sensitiveness, while in the eyes no longer shone that winning,
caressing look which had been a magnet for the hearts of women. This
man held his head high, his eyes were keen, penetrating, virile,
and in his countenance the doctor read sincerity, forcefulness,
determination. "'As he thinketh in his heart, so is he'," Dr. Annister
mused as he leaned forward to listen to what the young man was saying.
"I have come to tell you the truth about this matter, so that you can
see for yourself that Felix Brand is not worth saving. You promised
him this morning that you would help him. But when you hear what I can
tell you I have no doubt you will feel, as I do, that he deserves the
fate he has brought upon himself and that the world will be better to
be rid of him."
"One moment," said the doctor. "Were you aware of all that passed
between us this morning? Do you know all that happens to him?"
"Everything he thinks and says and does I know, and I have always
known. That is one of the reasons why I have determined that he must
go. I will no longer be a witness within his body of his evil deeds. I
am never unconscious, as he is always when he goes under. And that
is why, also, I am able to tell you the simple truth. It is not so
strange a story as you may think. I wonder sometimes why something of
the sort has not happened to many a man.
"It began with that incident about his sister of which he told you.
But it wasn't an accident. He wanted her seat on the limb of the tree
and when she wouldn't give it to him he pushed her off. She was almost
killed and was crippled for life. But nobody, except him and her and
me, has ever known that it was not an accident. He surrendered to
selfishness and cowardice and for the first time in his life denied
his conscience. That was the beginning of me, and of all that has
happened since."
Dr. Annister was leaning forward, almost out of his chair, and so
intense was the interest with which he was listening that his pale
face was alight and its lines of anxiety and fatigue smoothed out.
"I see!" he exclaimed eagerly. "I begin to understand how it was. The
shock, the struggle within himself and the revulsion of his conscience
from the victory won by the worse side of his nature started up a new
center, or threw off a new nebula, of consciousness--we can only
vaguely guess at the process. It proved strong enough to form within
his brain the embryo of another individuality.
"I have thought sometimes--" the doctor stopped for a moment, his
attention turning inwards again, while his elbows sought the arms of
the chair and his finger-tips came together. "I am beginning to
believe," he went on, his gaze fixed high up on the wall, "that even
in apparently normal human beings there may exist two or more of these
nebulae of consciousness in process of formation, but bound up so
closely with the dominating consciousness that they never quite
separate themselves. The case never becomes that of complete dual
personality, although such a person may have within himself two widely
different sets of ideals and principles of living.
"Strangely enough, these cases seem always to be evolved out of the
person's attitude toward the ethical problems of life. There, for
instance, are the officers of powerful corporations who may be
rapacious, ruthless, brutal, criminal, in their business methods, but
in private life the kindest, most sympathetic and generous of men.
Yes, I am beginning to think it may be that such men have set going
within themselves some such physiological and psychological process as
this which has nearly overwhelmed Felix Brand.
"Who can tell what a few more years of investigation and study of this
problem will give us!" The finger-tips were rhythmically tapping and
the physician's face was alight with interest, although he seemed for
the moment to have forgotten his companion. "Perhaps in another
generation or two we shall have discovered that it is medical not
legal treatment that pirate captains of industry stand in need of.
Perhaps the too shrewd financiers of that day will not be fined or
sent to prison but compelled to take courses of hypnotic treatment."
Dr. Annister's gaze, wandering downward, fell upon his companion, and
he came back to the matter in hand with a deprecatory smile.
"Pardon me, Mr. Gordon. I've been going far astray. But the whole
question interests me deeply. Strange, strange, what havoc within a
man's brain that war between right and wrong can make, when his own
fierce desires get mixed up in it! Will you go on, please? After this
first act of cruelty, unintentional doubtless, but afterward
concealed, out of cowardice and the desire to advance his own selfish
interests--then?"
"Why, it was the beginning of a constantly growing habit of
selfishness in thought and action. I could tell you of thousands of
little incidents, each of which helped to strengthen his conception of
himself as the center of everything and his notion that his wishes
must be gratified and his desires satisfied, at whatever cost to
others. This didn't come all at once, you know. It was the growth of
years, and kept on all through his youth and early manhood, till it
reached its present abominable state. And as it grew, so did I."
"Yes, yes!" the physician broke in again. "Every impulse toward
altruistic thought or action that was denied broke off and attached
itself to the other nebula of consciousness. Thus he set up within
himself two centers of consciousness, of moral growth, one altruistic
and the other egotistic. And, as these grew, certain other mental
qualities were caught within them, so that, when the separation was at
last complete, each individuality had, intensified, the qualities
that, mingled together, ought to have gone to the making of an evenly
balanced, highly endowed man."
"That's it. And now the question is, which of us are you going to try
to save? Which will you allow to live?"
"Why, I'm going to try to put you together again, to mingle you into
one proportioned, rounded individuality."
Gordon's manner bristled with aggressiveness. "You can't do it," he
exclaimed abruptly. "It's beyond human power, now. 'All the king's
horses and all the king's men' wouldn't be enough for such a job.
Felix Brand is beyond saving. He chose his part and wilfully kept in
it. Let him suffer the consequences. I was his conscience--the part of
him in which conscience abode. He denied me and repulsed me over and
over again, until he so calloused himself that there was no point left
for attack. And so we have become two separate and complete human
beings."
Gordon's words were rushing forth in an impulsive torrent and the
physician held up an arresting finger. "No, you're wrong there. You
are not two complete human beings. It has come about that he has
divested himself of moral sense. But he still has a wonderful esthetic
gift, of very great value to the world. Have you any part in that?"
"No, I have not," was Gordon's quick reply. "I admit I am lacking on
that side of my nature. But is that the most important thing for a man
to possess?"
He sprang to his feet and strode about as he went on pouring out his
arguments with emphatic, forceful manner. Dr. Annister watched him,
wondering at his apparent size. For he looked a considerably larger
man than did Felix Brand. The light gray clothing, of looser fit,
made some difference, but the physician decided that his manner was
responsible for most of the illusion--his self-confident stride, his
masterful quality, the impression he gave of abundant vitality and of
strength of character and of body. These were all in strong contrast
to Brand's courtly, winning manners, affable tones and leisurely,
graceful movements.
"Felix Brand has become a monster, a swollen toad of egotism. He cares
for nothing but his own advantage, his own interests, his own
pleasures, and these he reaches out and takes, grabs them, without
any regard for other people's rights or necessities. That kind
of selfishness is the root of all evil, and Felix Brand is its
incarnation. He is soaked with wickedness. Oh, you do not know the
half of it, Dr. Annister, though you have guessed something from the
change in the expression of his countenance. For years he has been
like a carrier of typhoid, spreading the contagion of his own sinful
nature wherever he went, himself unpunished, even admired, looked up
to and patterned after. Do you want to keep such a man alive? Do you
think, do you really believe, Dr. Annister, that the genius of such a
man as that, whatever it is, could make amends to the world for all
the evil that he does?"
"You forget, Mr. Gordon, that it is no part of my purpose to keep him
as he is. It is my duty to save him from the consequences of his folly
and of his perverted view of his relations with the world--to make him
whole again."
"You can't do it, Dr. Annister, you can't do it! Oil and water will no
more mix than my characteristics and his can be made to mingle in a
smooth blend again. My purpose in life is to add to the well-being of
the world. I want to lessen its poverty and its degradation and help
to reform the soul-poisoning conditions under which so many thousands
live. I have planned my life and my head is full of schemes for the
betterment of the world. I find it easy to make money. I shall be rich
soon. My chief interest and pleasure will be in using my money to work
out those plans. It is not my intention to do this as charity or
according to ordinary, philanthropic methods. I've no use for charity.
It is wrong and it only makes things worse. What I purpose doing is
to carry out my business schemes by such methods as will enable those
who work with me and for me to earn their own betterments in life, and
then to enlighten and guide them in the spending and investment of
their earnings. I want to prove that that sort of thing is possible
and profitable. In that and similar ways, which will benefit and make
others happy quite as much as they will contribute to my satisfaction,
I expect to spend my life. Felix Brand will design some beautiful
buildings. But he will add to the rottenness of the world and spread
disaster and misery with every day of his life. Will the buildings
atone for all that evil?"
Dr. Annister's person, sunk in the depths of his arm-chair, looked
even smaller than usual, in comparison with this energetic, dominating
figure that stood above him, speaking with emphasis and conviction,
instinct with determined will. He leaned forward and began to tap his
finger-tips, his face thoughtful. Silence fell upon them for a moment.
"My mission," he presently said, slowly and solemnly, "is to heal,
not to judge. But," he added, in a mournful tone, "you give me an idea
of what a splendid man Felix Brand might have been if he had not so
perverted and maimed himself."
Gordon made a gesture of impatience and his dark eyes flashed. "He
chose his way. Let him walk in it. I did my best to warn him where it
would lead. As long as I lived in him, I was his conscience and tried
to plead with him and argue with him. After I broke from him and began
to live my own life I wrote letters to him and told him the sort of
creature he was becoming and what he might expect.
"It was as if we were twins, with only one body between us. At first I
felt strongly the bond that held us together. At the start I did not
want to do anything to injure him. I thought we might both live,
taking turns with our one body. But as soon as I tried to make him see
the evil of his ways he began to hate me. His life grew so much worse
that I lost all patience with him. He would pay no attention to my
warnings.
"When he decided that he wanted that appointment to the Municipal Art
Commission, of course, characteristically, he wanted it at once, by
fair means or foul. I warned him not to do anything underhanded and he
told me to mind my own affairs. I told him I'd show him up if he
dabbled in any unscrupulous methods. But he went straight ahead after
what he wanted. You know what the consequences were."
"Yes, I remember," the physician assented. "It was almost my first
intimation, really my first proof, that Felix was not what I, and
everyone, had thought him."
"Oh, he had kept the outside of his life as admirable as any one could
wish. But I knew, long before that, how dirty and misshapen his soul
was. Even then, though, if he had heeded my warnings and shown any
desire to straighten out his theory of life and clean up his methods
of living I would have done my best to help him. At that time I would
even have given up my own desire to live and tried to reincorporate
myself with him. But it was no good, any of it.
"There was the case of that young woman, Miss Andrews, a nice girl,
with talent, and likely to make a fine success in her profession. But
Felix Brand crossed her path, took a fancy to her, talked his damnable
ideas into her head and set her feet on the downward path. She's going
down now at a lively rate, thanks to the lessons she had from him, and
she'll soon be at the bottom. It was that incident as much as any one
thing that determined me I'd live my own life, and the whole of it,
and let him work out his own damnation as fast as he could. I didn't
want to be instrumental in continuing his life as such a source of
evil. Do you, Dr. Annister?"
The little physician sat with his finger-tips softly beating together,
his attention all in drawn and his thought concentrated upon the
problem which had been proposed to him. At last he rose slowly to his
feet and turned his gray eyes upon Gordon, whose intent gaze was
fastened upon his face.
"Your meaning, as I understand it, Mr. Gordon, is that I should
refrain from giving him any assistance. And you believe that you
can, in that case, dominate him completely, force him out of
consciousness, keep him out of it, and yourself enjoy, from that
time on, uninterrupted, active life, in his body."
"That is what I think I shall be justified in doing."
"Then I must tell you that I cannot help you. My Hippocratic oath
binds me to the healing, the saving of life. He is my patient. He
came to me asking my aid. I must give it to him, to the best of my
ability."
Hugh Gordon straightened up and threw back his head. It seemed to his
companion almost as if his body grew suddenly larger in the tensing of
his purpose and his will.
"And I must tell you, Dr. Annister," he exclaimed, his eyes flashing
and his face determined, "that I shall succeed in spite of you both.
You cannot make a good man out of him; and it is outrageous, it is
impossible, that evil should thus triumph over good. I will not be
submerged again. I have grown stronger as he has grown weaker and more
wicked. He cannot hold out against me any longer. I shall give him
one more chance to put his affairs in order and make it known that he
will never return.
"It has been a hard-fought battle between us for the possession of
this body. But I have won it. I am stronger than he is now and, if I
wished, I could go out from this office and never let him see the
light of day again. But it is right for him to have a few days more.
"And I want him to tell you one thing that he has done. He shall tell
you with his own lips. It is your right to know, but he will not tell
you the truth unless I make him. He shall come to see you tomorrow and
you can try hypnotizing him if you want to. But before you begin give
him an opportunity to make his confession. I shall make him speak.
Goodnight, Dr. Annister."
The physician sat long in his big arm-chair, his forehead upon his
locked fingers. When he arose his face was haggard and, unconscious of
the movement, he pressed one hand against his breast.
"No," he said aloud, "I was right. There is a possibility that I can
yet reincarnate these two warring principles of selfishness and
altruism into one big-hearted, splendidly endowed human being. I must
take the chances and do my best. Oh, man, man! How little you know
what you are doing when you trifle with either your soul or your body!
And what miracles you expect of us, to save you from the consequences
you have richly earned--us who know so little more than you do!"