Rumsey began the severe routine of his daily work. He was particularly
busy that day, and had many anxious cases to consider; it was also one
of his hospital mornings, and his hospital cases were, he considered,
some of the most important in his practice. Nevertheless Mrs. Everett's
face and her words of excitement kept flashing again and again before
his memory.
"There is a possibility of that woman losing her senses if her mind is
not diverted into another channel, and soon too," he thought to himself.
"If she allows her thoughts to dwell much longer on this fixed idea, she
will see her son's murderer in the face of each man and woman with whom
she comes in contact. Still there is something queer in her story--the
young woman whom she addressed on Salisbury Plain was evidently the
victim of nervous terror to a remarkable extent--can it be possible that
she is concealing something?"
Rumsey thought for a moment over his last idea. Then he dismissed it
from his mind.
"No," he said to himself, "a village girl could not stand
cross-examination without betraying herself. I shall get as fanciful as
Mrs. Everett if I dwell any longer upon this problem. After all there is
no problem to consider. Why not accept the obvious fact? Poor Everett
killed his friend in a moment of strong irritation--it was a very plain
case of manslaughter."
At the appointed hour Margaret Awdrey appeared on the scene. She was
immediately admitted into Dr. Rumsey's presence. He asked her to seat
herself, and took a chair facing her. It was Margaret's way to be always
very direct. She was direct now, knowing that her auditor's time was of
extreme value.
"I have not troubled you about my husband for some years," she began.
"You have not," he replied.
"Do you remember what I last told you about him?"
"Perfectly. But excuse me one moment; to satisfy you I will look up his
case in my casebook. Do you remember the year when you last spoke to me
about him?"
Margaret instantly named the date, not only of year, but of month. Dr.
Rumsey quickly looked up the case. He laid his finger on the open page
in which he had entered all particulars, ran his eyes rapidly over the
notes he had made at the time, and then turned to Mrs. Awdrey.
"I find, as I expected, that I have forgotten nothing," he said. "I was
right in my conjectures, was I not? Your husband's symptoms were due to
nervous distress?"
"I wish I could say so," replied Margaret.
Dr. Rumsey slightly raised his brows.
"Are there fresh symptoms?" he asked.
"He is not well. I must tell you exactly how he is affected."
The doctor bent forward to listen. Margaret began her story.
"Since the date of our marriage there has been a very gradual, but also
a marked deterioration in my husband's character," she said. "But until
lately he has been in possession of excellent physical health, his
appetite has been good, he has been inclined for exercise, and has slept
well. In short, his bodily health has been without a flaw. Accompanying
this state of physical well-being there has been a very remarkable
mental torpor."
"Are you not fanciful on that point?" asked Dr. Rumsey.
"I am not. Please remember that I have known him since he was a boy. As
a boy he was particularly ambitious, full of all sorts of schemes for
the future--many of these schemes were really daring and original. He
did well at school, and better than well at Balliol. When we became
engaged his strong sense of ambition was quite one of the most
remarkable traits of his character. He always spoke of doing much with
his life. The idea was that as soon as possible he was to enter the
House, and he earnestly hoped that when that happy event took place he
would make his mark there. One by one all these thoughts, all these
hopes and aims, have dropped away from his mind; each year has robbed
him of something, until at last he has come to that pass when even books
fail to arouse any interest in him. He sits for many hours absolutely
doing nothing, not even sleeping, but gazing straight before him into
vacancy. Our little son is almost the only person who has any power to
rouse him. He is devoted to the child, but his love even for little
Arthur is tempered by that remarkable torpor--he never plays with the
boy, who is a particularly strong-willed, spirited child, but likes to
sit with him on his knee, the child's arms clasped round his neck. He
has trained the little fellow to sit perfectly still. The child is
devoted to his father, and would do anything for him. As the years have
gone on, my husband has become more and more a man of few words--I now
believe him to be a man of few thoughts--of late he has been subject to
moods of deep depression, and although he is my husband, I often feel,
truly as I love him, that he is more like a log than a man."
Tears dimmed Margaret's eyes; she hastily wiped them away.
"I would not trouble you about all this," she continued, "but for a
change which has taken place within the last few months. That change
directly affects my husband's physical health, and as such is the case I
feel it right to consult you about it."
"Yes, speak--take your own time--I am much interested," said the doctor.
"The change in my husband's health of body has also begun gradually,"
continued Mrs. Awdrey. "You know, of course, that he is now the owner of
Grandcourt. He has taken a great dislike to the place--in my opinion, an
unaccountable dislike. He absolutely refuses to live there. Now I am
fond of Grandcourt, and our little boy always seems in better health and
spirits there than anywhere else. I take my child down to the old family
place whenever I can spare a week from my husband. Last autumn I
persuaded Mr. Awdrey with great difficulty to accompany me to Grandcourt
for a week. I have never ceased to regret that visit."
"Indeed, what occurred?" asked the doctor.
"Apparently nothing, and yet evidently a great deal. When we got into
the country Robert's apathy seemed to change; he roused himself and
became talkative and even excitable. He took long walks, and was
particularly fond of visiting Salisbury Plain, that part which lies to
the left of the Court. He invariably took these rambles alone, and often
went out quite late in the evening, not returning until midnight.
"On the last of these occasions I asked him why he was so fond of
walking by himself. He said with a forced laugh, and a very queer look
in his eyes, that he was engaged trying to find a favorite walking-stick
which he had lost years ago. He laid such stress upon what appeared such
a trivial subject that I could scarcely refrain from smiling. When I did
so he swore a terrific oath, and said, with blazing eyes, that life or
death depended upon the matter which I thought so trivial. Immediately
after his brief blaze of passion he became moody, dull, and more inert
than ever. The next day we left the Court. It was immediately after that
visit that his physical health began to give way. He lost his appetite,
and for the last few months he has been the victim of a very peculiar
form of sleeplessness."
"Ah, insomnia would be bad in a case like his," said Dr. Rumsey.
"It has had a very irritating effect upon him. His sleeplessness, like
all other symptoms, came on gradually. At the same time he became
intensely sensitive to the slightest noise. Against my will he tried
taking small doses of chloral, but they had the reverse of a beneficial
effect upon him. During the last month he has, toward morning, dropped
off into uneasy slumber, from which he awakens bathed in perspiration
and in a most curious state of terror. Night after night the same sort
of thing occurs. He seizes my hand and asks me in a voice choking with
emotion if I see anything in the room. 'Nothing,' I answer.
"'Am I awake or asleep?' he asks next.
"'Wide awake,' I say to him.
"'Then it is as I fear,' he replies. 'I see it, I see it distinctly.
Can't you? Look, you must see it too. It is just over there, in the
direction of the window. Don't you see that sphere of perfect light?
Don't you see the picture in the middle?' He shivers; the drops of
perspiration fall from his forehead.
"'Margaret,' he says, 'for God's sake look. Tell me that you see it
too.'
"'I see nothing,' I answer him.
"'Then the vision is for me alone. It haunts me. What have I done to
deserve it? Margaret, there is a circle of light over there--in the
centre a picture--it is the picture of a murder. Two men are in it--yes,
I know now--I am looking at the Plain near the Court--the moon is hidden
behind the clouds--there are two men--they fight. God in heaven, one man
falls--the other bends over him. I see the face of the fallen man, but I
cannot see the face of the other. I should rest content if I could only
see his face. Who is he, Margaret, who is he?'
"He falls back on his pillow half-fainting.
"This sort of thing goes on night after night, Dr. Rumsey. Toward
morning the vision which tortures my unhappy husband begins to fade, he
sinks into heavy slumber, and awakens late in the morning with no memory
whatever of the horrible thing which has haunted him during the hours of
darkness.
"The days which follow are more full than ever of that terrible inertia,
and now he begins to look what he really is, a man stricken with an
awful doom.
"The symptoms you speak of are certainly alarming," said Dr. Rumsey,
after a pause. "They point to a highly unsatisfactory state of the nerve
centres. These symptoms, joined to what you have already told me of the
peculiar malady which Awdrey inherits, make his case a grave one. Of
course, I by no means give up hope, but the recurrence of this vision
nightly is a singular symptom. Does Awdrey invariably speak of not being
able to see the face of the man who committed the murder?"
"Yes, he always makes a remark to that effect. He seems every night to
see the murdered man lying on the ground with his face upward, but the
man who commits the murder has his back to him. Last night he shrieked
out in absolute terror on the subject:
"'Who is the man? That man on the ground is Horace Frere--he has been
hewn down in the first strength of his youth--he is a dead man. There
stands the murderer, with his back to me, but who is he? Oh, my God!' he
cried out with great passion, 'who is the one who has done this deed?
Who has murdered Horace Frere? I would give all I possess, all that this
wide world contains, only to catch one glimpse of his face.'
"He sprang out of bed as he spoke, and went a step or two in the
direction where he saw the peculiar vision, clasping his hands, and
staring straight before him like a person distraught, and almost out of
his mind. I followed him and tried to take his hand.
"'Robert!' I said, 'you know, don't you, quite well, who murdered Horace
Frere? Poor fellow, it was not murder in the ordinary sense. Frank
Everett is the name of the man whose face you cannot see. But it is an
old story now, and you have nothing to do with it, nothing
whatever--don't let it dwell any longer on your mind.'
"'Ha, but he carries my stick,' he shrieked out, and then he fell back
in a state of unconsciousness against the bed."
"And do you mean to tell me that he remembered nothing of this agony in
the morning?" queried Dr. Rumsey.
"Nothing whatever. At breakfast he complained of a slight headache and
was particularly dull and moody. When I came off to you he had just
started for a walk in the Park with our little boy."
"I should like to see your husband, and to talk to him," said Dr.
Rumsey, rising abruptly. "Can you manage to bring him here?"
"I fear I cannot, for he does not consider himself ill."
"Shall you be at home this evening?"
"Yes, we are not going out to-night."
"Then I'll drop in between eight and nine on a friendly visit. You must
not be alarmed if I try to lead up to the subject of these nightly
visions, for I would infinitely rather your husband remembered them than
that they should quite slip from his memory."
"Thank you," answered Margaret. "I will leave you alone with him when
you call to-night."
"It may be best for me to see him without anyone else being present."
Margaret Awdrey soon afterward took her leave.
That night, true to his appointment, Dr. Rumsey made his appearance at
the Awdreys' house in Seymour Street. He was shown at once into the
drawing-room, where Awdrey was lying back in a deep chair on one side of
the hearth, and Margaret was softly playing a sonata of Beethoven's in
the distance. She played with great feeling and power, and did not use
any notes. The part of the room where she sat was almost in shadow, but
the part round the fire where Awdrey had placed himself was full of
bright light.
Margaret's dark eyes looked full of painful thought when the great
doctor was ushered into the room. She did not see him at first, then she
noticed him and faltered in her playing. She took her fingers from the
piano, and rose to meet him.
"Pray go on, Margaret. What are you stopping for?" cried her husband.
"Nothing soothes me like your music. Go on, go on. I see the moonlight
on the trees, I feel the infinite peace, the waves are beating on the
shore, there is rest." He broke off abruptly, starting to his feet. "I
beg your pardon, Dr. Rumsey, I assure you I did not see you until this
moment."
"I happened to have half-an-hour at my disposal, and thought I would
drop in for a chat," said Dr. Rumsey in his pleasant voice.
Awdrey's somewhat fretful brow relaxed.
"You are heartily welcome," he said. "Have you dined? Will you take
anything?"
"I have dined, and I only want one thing," said Dr. Rumsey.
"Pray name it; I'll ring for it immediately."
"You need not do that, for the person to give it to me is already in the
room."
The doctor bowed to Margaret as he spoke.
"I love the 'Moonlight Sonata' beyond all other music," he said. "Will
you continue playing it, Mrs. Awdrey? Will you rest a tired physician as
well as your husband with your music?"
"With all the pleasure in the world," she replied. She returned at once
to her shady corner, and the soothing effects of the sonata once more
filled the room. For a short time Awdrey sat upright, forced into
attention of others by the fact of Dr. Rumsey's presence, but he soon
relaxed the slight effort after self-control, and lay back in his chair
once again with his eyes half shut.
Rumsey listened to the music and watched his strange patient at the same
time.
Margaret suddenly stopped, almost as abruptly as if she had had a
signal. She walked up the room, and stood in the bright circle of light.
She looked very lovely, and almost spiritual--her face was pale--her
eyes luminous as if lit from within--her pathetic and perfect lips were
slightly apart. Rumsey thought her something like an angel who was about
to utter a benediction.
"I am going up now to see little Arthur," she said. She glanced at her
husband, and left the room.
Rumsey had not failed to observe that Awdrey did not even glance at his
wife when she stood on the hearth. There was a full moment's pause after
she left the room. Awdrey's eyes were half closed, they were turned in
the direction of the bright blaze. Rumsey looked full at him.
"Strange case, strange man," he muttered under his breath. "There is
something for me to unravel here. The man who is insensate enough not to
see the beauty in that woman's face, not to revel in the love she
bestows on him--he is a log, not a man--and yet----"
"Are you well?" cried the doctor abruptly. He spoke on purpose with
great distinctness, and his words had something the effect of a
pistol-shot.
Awdrey sat bolt upright and stared full at him.
"Why do you ask me that question?" he replied, irritation in his tone.
"Because I wish to question you with regard to your health," said Dr.
Rumsey. "Whether you feel it or not, you are by no means well."
"Indeed! What do I look like?"
"Like a man who sees more than he ought," replied the doctor with
deliberation. "But before we come to that may I ask you a question?"
Awdrey looked disturbed--he got up and stood with his back to the fire.
"Ask what you please," he said, rubbing up his hair as he spoke. "As
there is a heaven above, Dr. Rumsey, you see a wretched man before you
to-night."
"My dear fellow, what strong words! Surely, you of all people----"
Awdrey interrupted with a hollow laugh.
"Ah," he said, "it looks like it, does it not? In any circle, among any
concourse of people, I should be pointed out as the fortunate man. I
have money--I have a very good and beautiful wife--I am the father of as
fine a boy as the heart of man could desire. I belong to one of the old
and established families of our country, and I also, I suppose, may
claim the inestimable privilege to youth, for I am only twenty-six years
of age--nevertheless----" He shuddered, looked down the long room, and
then closed his eyes.
"I am glad I came here," said Dr. Rumsey. "Believe me, my dear sir, the
symptoms you have just described are by no means uncommon in the cases
of singularly fortunate individuals like yourself. The fact is, you have
got too much. You want to empty yourself of some of your abundance in
order that contentment and health of mind may flow in."
Awdrey stared at the doctor with lack-lustre eyes. Then he shook his
head.
"I am past all that," he said. "I might at the first have managed to
make a superhuman effort; but now I have no energy for anything. I have
not even energy sufficient to take away my own life, which is the only
thing on all God's earth that I crave to do."
"Come, come, Awdrey, you must not allow yourself to speak like that. Now
sit down. Tell me, if you possibly can, exactly what you feel."
"Why should I tell you? I am not your patient."
"But I want you to be."
"Is that why you came here this evening?"
Dr. Rumsey paused before he replied; he had not expected this question.
"I will answer you frankly," he said, with a pause. "Your wife came to
see me about you. She did not wish me to mention the fact of her visit,
but I believe I am wise in keeping nothing back from you. You love your
wife, don't you?"
"I suppose I do; that is, if I love anybody."
"Of course, you love her. Don't sentimentalize over a fact. She came to
see me because her love for you is over-abundant. It makes her anxious;
you have given her, Awdrey, a great deal of anxiety lately.
"I cannot imagine how. I have done nothing."
"That is just it. You have done too little. She is naturally terribly
anxious. She told me one or two things about your state which I do not
consider quite satisfactory. I said it would be necessary for me to have
an interview with you, and asked her to beg of you to call at my house.
She said you did not consider yourself ill, and might not be willing to
come to me. I then resolved to come to you, and here I am."
"It is good of you, Rumsey, but you can do nothing; I am not really ill.
It is simply that something--I have not the faintest idea what--has
killed my soul. I believe, before heaven, that I have stated the case in
a nutshell. You may be, and doubtless are, a great doctor, but you have
not come across living men with dead souls before."
"I have not Awdrey; nor is your soul dead. You state an impossibility."
Awdrey started excitedly. His face, which had been deadly pale, now
blazed with animation and color.
"Learned as you are," he cried, "you will gain some fresh and valuable
experience from me to-night. I am the strangest patient you ever
attempted to cure. You have roused me, and it is good to be roused.
Perhaps my soul is not dead after all--perhaps it is struggling with a
demon which crushes it down."