Arthur Rumsey, M.D., F.R.C.S., was one of the most remarkable men of his
time. He was unmarried, and lived in a large house in Harley Street,
where he saw many patients daily. He was on the staff of more than one
of the big London hospitals, and one or two mornings in each week had to
be devoted to this public service, which occupies so much of the life of
a busy and popular doctor. Rumsey was not only a clever, all-round man,
but he was also a specialist. The word nerve--that queer complex word,
with its many hidden meanings, its daily and hourly fresh
renderings--that word, which belongs especially to the end of our
century, he seized with a grip of psychological intensity, and made it
his principal study. By slow degrees and years of patient toil he began
to understand the nerve power in man. From the study of the nerves to
the study of the source of all nerves, aches and pains, joys and
delights, the human brain, was an easy step. Rumsey was a brain
specialist. It began to be reported of him, not only in the profession,
but among that class of patients who must flock to such a man, when he
had performed wonderful and extraordinary cures, that to him was given
insight almost superhuman. It was said of Rumsey that he could read
motives and could also unravel the most complex problems of the
psychological world.
Five years had passed since Margaret Douglas found herself the bride of
Robert Awdrey. These five years had been mostly spent by the pair in
London. Being well off, Awdrey had taken a good house in a fashionable
quarter. He and Margaret began to entertain, and were popular from the
very first, in their own somewhat large circle. They were now the
parents of one beautiful child, a boy, and the outside world invariably
spoke of them as a prosperous and a very happy couple.
Everett did not expiate his supposed crime by death. The plea of the
jury for mercy resulted in fourteen years' penal servitude. Such a
sentence meant, of course, a living death; he had quite sunk out of
ken--almost out of memory. Except in the heart of his mother and in the
tender heart of Margaret Awdrey, this young man, whose career had
promised to be so bright, so satisfactory, such a blessing to all who
knew him, was completely forgotten.
In his mother's heart, of course, he was safely enshrined, and Margaret
also, although she had never spoken to him, and never saw his face until
the day of the trial, still vividly remembered him.
When her honeymoon was over and she found herself settled in London, one
of her first acts was to seek out Mrs. Everett, and to make a special
friend of the forlorn and unhappy widow.
Both Margaret and Mrs. Everett soon found that they had a strong bond of
sympathy between them. They both absolutely believed in Frank Everett's
innocence. The subject, however, was too painful to the elder woman to
be often alluded to, but knowing what was in Margaret's heart she took a
great fancy to her, always spoke to her with affection, took a real
interest in her concerns, and was often a visitor at her home.
Four years after the wedding the elder Squire died. He was found one
morning dead in his bed, having passed peacefully and painlessly away.
Awdrey was now the owner of Grandcourt, but for some reason which he
could not explain, even to himself, he did not care to spend much time
at the old place--Margaret was often there for months at a time, but
Awdrey preferred London to the Court, and a week at a time was the
longest period he would ever spend under the old roof. Both his sisters
were now married and had homes of their own--the place in consequence
began to grow a little into disuse, although Margaret did what she could
for the tenantry, and whenever she was at the Court was extremely
popular with her neighbors. But she did not think it right to leave her
husband long alone--he clung to her a good deal, seeking her opinion
more and more as the months and years went by, and leaning upon her to
an extraordinary extent for a young and clever man.
Awdrey had grown exceptionally old for his age in the five years since
his marriage. He was only twenty-six, but some white streaks were
already to be found in his thick hair, and several wrinkles were
perceptible round his dark gray eyes. He had not gone into
Parliament--he had not distinguished himself by any literary work. His
own ambitious dreams and his wife's longings for him faded one by one
out of sight. He was a gentle, kindly mannered man--generous with his
money, sympathetic up to a certain point over every tale of woe, but
there was a curious want of energy about him, and as the days and months
flew by, Margaret's sense of trouble, which always lay near her heart,
unaccountably deepened.
The great specialist, Arthur Rumsey, was about to give a dinner. It was
his custom to give one once a fortnight during the London season. To
these dinners he not only invited his own friends and the more favored
among his patients, but many celebrated men of science and literature; a
few also of the better sort of the smart people of society were to be
met on these occasions. Although there was no hostess, Rumsey's dinners
were popular, his invitations were always eagerly accepted, and the
people who met each other at his house often spoke afterward of these
occasions as specially delightful.
In short, the dinners partook of that intellectual quality which makes,
to quote an old-world phrase, "the feast of reason and the flow of
soul." On Rumsey's evenings, the forgotten art of conversation seemed
once again to struggle to re-assert itself.
Robert Awdrey and his wife were often among the favored guests, and were
to be present at this special dinner. Margaret was a distant cousin of
the great physician, and shortly after her arrival in London had
consulted him about her husband. She had told him all about the family
history, and the curious hereditary taint which had shown itself from
generation to generation in certain members of the men of the house. He
had listened gravely, and with much interest, saying very little at the
time, and endeavoring by every means in his power to soothe the
anxieties of the young wife.
"The doom you dread may never fall upon your husband," he said finally.
"The slight inertia of mind which he complains of is probably more due
to nervous fear than to anything else. It is a pity he is so well off.
If he had to work for his living, he would soon use his brain to good
and healthy purpose. That fiat which fell upon Adam is in reality a
blessing in disguise. There is no surer cure for most of the fads and
fancies of the present day than the command which ordains to man that
'In the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread.'"
Margaret's anxious eyes were fixed upon the great doctor while he was
speaking.
"Your husband must make the best of his circumstances," he continued, in
a cheerful tone. "Crowd occupation upon him; get him to take up any good
intellectual work with strength and vigor. If you see he is really tired
out, do not over-worry him. Get him to travel with you; get him to read
books with real stuff in them; occupy his mind at any risk. When he
begins to forget serious matters it will be time enough to come to the
conclusion that the hereditary curse has descended upon him. Up to the
present he has never forgotten anything of consequence, has he?"
"Nothing that I know of," answered Margaret. Then she added, with a
half-smile, "The small lapse of memory which I am about to mention, you
will probably consider beneath your notice, nevertheless it has
irritated my husband to a strange degree. You have doubtless heard of
the tragic murder of Horace Frere, which took place on Salisbury Plain a
few weeks before our wedding?"
Rumsey nodded.
"On the night of the murder my husband lost his favorite walking-stick.
He has worried ceaselessly over that small fact, referring to it
constantly and always complaining of a certain numbness in the back of
his head when he does so. The fact is he met the unfortunate man who was
murdered early in the afternoon. At that time he had his stick with him.
He can never recall anything about it from that moment, nor has he seen
it from then to now."
The doctor laughed good-humoredly.
"There is little doubt," he said, "that the fear that the doom of his
house may fasten upon him has affected your husband's nerves. The lapse
of memory to which you refer means nothing at all. Keep him occupied,
Mrs. Awdrey, keep him occupied. That is my best advice to you."
Margaret went away feeling reassured and almost happy, but since the
date of that conversation Rumsey never forgot Awdrey's queer case. He
possessed that extraordinary and perfect memory himself, which does not
allow the smallest detail, however apparently unimportant, to escape
observation, and often as he talked to his guest across his dinner
table, he observed him with a keenness of interest which he could
himself scarcely account for.
On this particular evening more guests than usual were assembled at the
doctor's house. Sixteen people had sat down to dinner and several fresh
arrivals were expected in the evening. Among the dining guests was Mrs.
Everett. She was a tall, handsome woman of about forty-five years of
age. Her hair was snow-white and was piled high up over her head--her
face was of a pale olive hue, with regular features, and very large,
piercing, dark eyes. The eyebrows were well arched and somewhat thickly
marked--they were still raven black, and afforded a striking contrast to
the lovely thick hair which shone like a mass of silver above her brow.
Everett's mother always wore black, but, curious to relate, she had
discarded widow's weeds soon after her son's incarceration. Before that
date she had been in character, and had also lived the life of an
ordinary, affectionate, and thoroughly amiable woman. Keen as her sorrow
in parting with the husband of her youth was, she contrived to weave a
happy nest in which her heart could take shelter, in the passionate love
which she gave to her only son. But from the date of his trial and
verdict, the woman's whole character, the very expression on her face,
had altered. Her eyes had now a watchful and intent look. She seemed
like some one who had set a mission before herself. She had the look of
one who lived for a hidden purpose. She no longer eschewed society, but
went into it even more frequently than her somewhat slender means
afforded. She made many new acquaintances and was always eager to win
the confidence of those who cared to confide in her. Her own story she
never touched upon, but she gave a curious kind of watchful sympathy to
others which was not without its charm.
On this particular night, the widow's eyes were brighter and more
restless than usual. Dr. Rumsey knew all about her story, and had often
counselled her with regard to her present attitude toward society at
large.
"My boy is innocent," she had said many times to the doctor. "The object
of my life is to prove this. I will quietly wait, I will do nothing
rash, but it is my firm conviction that I shall yet be permitted to find
and expose the man who killed Horace Frere."
Rumsey had warned her as to the peril which she ran in fostering too
keenly a fixed idea--he had taken pains to give her psychological
reasons for the danger which she incurred--but nothing he could say or
do could alter the bias of her mind. Her fixed and unwavering assurance
that her boy was absolutely innocent could not be imperilled by any
words which man could speak.
"If I had even seen my boy do the murder I should still believe it to be
a vision of my own brain," she had said once, and after that Rumsey had
ceased to try to guide her thoughts into a healthier channel.
On this particular night when the doctor came upstairs after wine,
accompanied by the rest of the men of the party, Mrs. Everett seemed to
draw him to her side by her watchful and excited glances.
There was something about the man which could never withstand an appeal
of human need--he went straight now to the widow's side as a needle is
attracted to a magnet.
"Well," he said, drawing a chair forward, and seating himself so as
almost to face her.
"You guessed that I wanted to see you?" she said eagerly.
"I looked at you and that was sufficient," he said.
"When can you give me an interview?" she replied.
"Do you want to visit me as a patient?"
"I do not--that is, not in the ordinary sense. I want to tell you
something. I have a story to relate, and when it is told I should like
to get your verdict on a certain peculiar case--in short, I believe I
have got a clue, if only a slight one, to the unravelling of the mystery
of my life--you quite understand?"
"Yes, I understand," replied Dr. Rumsey in a gentle voice, "but, my dear
lady, I am not a detective."
"Not in the ordinary sense, but surely as far as the complex heart is
concerned."
Dr. Rumsey held up his hand.
"We need not go into that," he said.
"No, we will not. May I see you to-morrow for a few minutes?"
The doctor consulted his note-book.
"I cannot see you as a patient," he said, "but as a friend it is
possible. Can you be here at eight o'clock to-morrow morning? I
breakfast at eight--my breakfast generally occupies ten minutes--that
time is at your disposal."
"I will be with you. Thank you a thousand times," she replied.
Her eyes grew bright with exultation. The doctor favored her with a keen
glance and moved aside. A few minutes later he found himself in Margaret
Awdrey's vicinity. Margaret was now a very beautiful woman. As a girl
she had been lovely, but her early matronhood had developed her charms,
had added to her stateliness, and had brought out many new and fresh
expressions in her mobile and lovely face.
As Rumsey approached her side, she was in the act of taking leave of an
old friend of her husband's, who was going away early. The Doctor was
therefore able to watch her for a minute without her observing him--then
she turned slightly, saw him, flushed vividly, and went eagerly and
swiftly to his side.
"Dr. Rumsey," said Margaret, "I know this is not the place to make
appointments, but I am anxious to see you on the subject of my husband's
health. How soon can you manage----"
"I can make an appointment for to-morrow," he interrupted. "Be with me
at half-past one. I can give you half an hour quite undisturbed then."
She did not smile, but her eyes were raised fully to his face. Those
dark, deep eyes so full of the noblest emotions which can stir the human
soul, looked at him now with a pathos that touched his heart. He moved
away to talk to other friends, but the thought of Margaret Awdrey
returned to him many times during the ensuing night.