“Over here!” he whispered, and pulled me into a corner of the room.
“Hush! Listen!”
In the silence of the night I could distinctly hear that someone was
coming down the corridor. It was a stealthy step, faint and
intermittent, as of a man who paused cautiously after every stride.
Sometimes for half a minute there was no sound, and then came the
shuffle and creak which told of a fresh advance. My companion was
trembling with excitement. His hand which still held my sleeve twitched
like a branch in the wind.
“What is it?” I whispered.
“It’s he!”
“Sir Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“What does he want?”
“Hush! Do nothing until I tell you.”
I was conscious now that someone was trying the door. There was the
faintest little rattle from the handle, and then I dimly saw a thin slit
of subdued light. There was a lamp burning somewhere far down the
passage, and it just sufficed to make the outside visible from the
darkness of our room. The greyish slit grew broader and broader, very
gradually, very gently, and then outlined against it I saw the dark
figure of a man. He was squat and crouching, with the silhouette of a
bulky and misshapen dwarf. Slowly the door swung open with this ominous
shape framed in the centre of it. And then, in an instant the crouching
figure shot up, there was a tiger spring across the room, and thud,
thud, thud, came three tremendous blows from some heavy object upon the
bed.
I was so paralyzed with amazement that I stood motionless and staring
until I was aroused by a yell for help from my companion. The open door
shed enough light for me to see the outline of things, and there was
little Lord Linchmere with his arms round the neck of his
brother-in-law, holding bravely on to him like a game bull-terrier with
its teeth into a gaunt deerhound. The tall, bony man dashed himself
about, writhing round and round to get a grip upon his assailant; but
the other, clutching on from behind, still kept his hold, though his
shrill, frightened cries showed how unequal he felt the contest to be. I
sprang to the rescue, and the two of us managed to throw Sir Thomas to
the ground, though he made his teeth meet in my shoulder. With all my
youth and weight and strength, it was a desperate struggle before we
could master his frenzied struggles; but at last we secured his arms
with the waist-cord of the dressing-gown which he was wearing. I was
holding his legs while Lord Linchmere was endeavouring to relight the
lamp, when there came the pattering of many feet in the passage, and the
butler and two footmen, who had been alarmed by the cries, rushed into
the room. With their aid we had no further difficulty in securing our
prisoner, who lay foaming and glaring upon the ground. One glance at his
face was enough to prove that he was a dangerous maniac, while the
short, heavy hammer which lay beside the bed showed how murderous had
been his intentions.
“Do not use any violence!” said Lord Linchmere, as we raised the
struggling man to his feet. “He will have a period of stupor after this
excitement. I believe that it is coming on already.” As he spoke the
convulsions became less violent, and the madman’s head fell forward upon
his breast, as if he were overcome by sleep. We led him down the passage
and stretched him upon his own bed, where he lay unconscious, breathing
heavily.
“Two of you will watch him,” said Lord Linchmere. “And now, Dr.
Hamilton, if you will return with me to my room, I will give you the
explanation which my horror of scandal has perhaps caused me to delay
too long. Come what may, you will never have cause to regret your share
in this night’s work.
“The case may be made clear in a very few words,” he continued, when we
were alone. “My poor brother-in-law is one of the best fellows upon
earth, a loving husband and an estimable father, but he comes from a
stock which is deeply tainted with insanity. He has more than once had
homicidal outbreaks, which are the more painful because his inclination
is always to attack the very person to whom he is most attached. His son
was sent away to school to avoid this danger, and then came an attempt
upon my sister, his wife, from which she escaped with injuries that you
may have observed when you met her in London. You understand that he
knows nothing of the matter when he is in his sound senses, and would
ridicule the suggestion that he could under any circumstances injure
those whom he loves so dearly. It is often, as you know, a
characteristic of such maladies that it is absolutely impossible to
convince the man who suffers from them of their existence.
“Our great object was, of course, to get him under restraint before he
could stain his hands with blood, but the matter was full of difficulty.
He is a recluse in his habits, and would not see any medical man.
Besides, it was necessary for our purpose that the medical man should
convince himself of his insanity; and he is sane as you or I, save on
these very rare occasions. But, fortunately, before he has these attacks
he always shows certain premonitory symptoms, which are providential
danger-signals, warning us to be upon our guard. The chief of these is
that nervous contortion of the forehead which you must have observed.
This is a phenomenon which always appears from three to four days before
his attacks of frenzy. The moment it showed itself his wife came into
town on some pretext, and took refuge in my house in Brook Street.
“It remained for me to convince a medical man of Sir Thomas’s insanity,
without which it was impossible to put him where he could do no harm.
The first problem was how to get a medical man into his house. I
bethought me of his interest in beetles, and his love for any one who
shared his tastes. I advertised, therefore, and was fortunate enough to
find in you the very man I wanted. A stout companion was necessary, for
I knew that the lunacy could only be proved by a murderous assault, and
I had every reason to believe that that assault would be made upon
myself, since he had the warmest regard for me in his moments of sanity.
I think your intelligence will supply all the rest. I did not know that
the attack would come by night, but I thought it very probable, for the
crises of such cases usually do occur in the early hours of the morning.
I am a very nervous man myself, but I saw no other way in which I could
remove this terrible danger from my sister’s life. I need not ask you
whether you are willing to sign the lunacy papers.”
“Undoubtedly. But _two_ signatures are necessary.”
“You forget that I am myself a holder of a medical degree. I have the
papers on a side-table here, so if you will be good enough to sign them
now, we can have the patient removed in the morning.”
* * * * *
So that was my visit to Sir Thomas Rossiter, the famous beetle-hunter,
and that was also my first step upon the ladder of success, for Lady
Rossiter and Lord Linchmere have proved to be staunch friends, and they
have never forgotten my association with them in the time of their need.
Sir Thomas is out and said to be cured, but I still think that if I
spent another night at Delamere Court, I should be inclined to lock my
door upon the inside.