A RAY OF HOPE
It was the day of departure of Aurora Cunningham for London,
England. Margaret had accompanied her in an automobile to the city
of B---- to see her off. Their parting had an unusual sadness as
they stood on the deck of the Dynamoship "Columbia"--a four-day ocean
greyhound. They seemed to be paralyzed at the barrenness of the future,
looking into each other's eyes as if trying to challenge sincerity
to their oath of allegiance.
It was extremely touching indeed, when they were compelled by the
officers of the ship to take their final leave, and as the Columbia
began to recede gradually from its moorings, her prow compassed to
the British Isles, Aurora's lithe figure could be seen at the stern of
the boat, throwing kisses and waving her handkerchief toward Margaret,
until the distance grew wider and farther and the figure fainter and
at last was lost to view.
Left alone on the shore, Margaret did her utmost to control her
emotions of parting from her beloved friend. With suppressed feelings
she mounted her automobile reluctantly, and bade the chauffeur proceed
to New York City, from whence, after a short repose, she intended to
take the train for her home in Wyoming.
She had hardly gone a mile or two out of the city of B---- when her
emotions had swelled beyond her capacity of control and she became
delirious in her seat in the auto. Some pedestrians by the way,
noticing that something unusual had happened to the fair occupant,
called the attention of the chauffeur to his charge. He brought the
machine to a standstill and the necessity of enlisting the services
of a doctor was at once apparent.
One of the bystanders suggested that the nearest available doctor was
the Hindoo surgeon, Dr. Hyder Ben Raaba, about a furlong farther down
the road, and thither the patient was wheeled with all possible haste,
and within a few minutes she was in the Doctor's reception room.
After a cursory examination Ben Raaba appeared somewhat puzzled. "She
is in a state of coma," he said, rubbing his forehead with his bony
fingers, "but I do not yet see any physical cause to induce that
condition. It seems to me," he added, "that every function of the
organs are in a perfectly normal state."
His face brightened at once, however, with a smile of victory. A happy
thought had come to his fertile mind. He had thought of the singular
methods practised by the diagnostician Avicene of Balk--the father of
occult Diagnosis--and the words of the Cashmerian poet came to his
memory, who nearly ten centuries previously had said: "The pulse of
the loving, beats higher, agitated only at the name of the beloved."
Taking thereupon her pulse into his hand, he began to question the
chauffeur, where she had gone, with whom, what was the other young
lady's name, etc. He knew that, although she was in a state of coma,
her senses of hearing and of understanding were performing their
regular functions. At the mention of the name of Aurora Cunningham
there was a remarkable change in Margaret; her pulse began to beat
double quick!
After repeating the experiment, and satisfying himself that the cause
was a matter pertaining the heart, in fact the girl's infatuation for
her departed friend, and that there was nothing in the Materia Medica
as an antidote, that the only restorative remedy that could be found
was in hypnotic occultism, he leaned over the prostrate figure before
him and whispered some words into her ear.
The correctness of his diagnosis became plainly evident. The patient,
with perfect tranquility, opened her eyes, and with a complacent
smile looked into the face of her restorer. After a few more magnetic
passes and words of encouragement from the Wizard, she had completely
recovered herself, to the amazement of the anxious group of persons
who had gathered there, curious to know the fate of the fair occupant
of the automobile. Within half an hour she again entered her auto
and proceeded on her way to the city.
The new and remarkable personality of Hyder Ben Raaba, however, left
an ineradicable impression upon her mind, so much as at times to divert
her thoughts from dwelling upon Aurora and concentrate upon the strange
visage of Hyder Ben Raaba. After a repose of a few days in New York,
having made all the preparations for the intended journey, she left
the metropolis and arrived in due time at her paternal home in Wyoming.
Hardly a month had elapsed after her return when there was another
crisis in her life. Her father was taken suddenly ill and died, and
she was left an heiress to a large fortune consisting principally of
lands, mines and cattle. Being without any relatives to guide her,
Margaret was compelled to settle matters for herself, and daily she
was confronted by hundreds of annoying details. These consisted of
many entangling affairs of her lamented father, who had left her
sole legatee, prospective aspirants who sought her hand in marriage,
her solemn and binding oath to Aurora, and, strange as it may seem,
the grotesquely hideous face of Ben Raaba began to flit before her
mind's eye, perplexing and haunting her incessantly.
One evening when she was thus absorbed in deep meditation, the postman
brought her a letter. It was mailed from B----. Excitedly she tore
open the envelope and from it fell the professional card of Dr. Hyder
Ben Raaba. The same weird and ominous words were printed under his
name: "The Vivisectionist and Re-incarnator"! On the other side were
scribbled a few lines, making inquiry about the state of her health.
The card, ah! the strange and significant words, vivisection and
re-incarnation began to assume a deep meaning. She placed the card
tremblingly upon the table and fell into a profound study. Her
quivering frame, the rise and fall of her heaving breast and the
change of color of her face alternatively from pallor to a feverish
flush, indicated that there was a revolution going on within her
immaculate bosom.
At last she seemed to come to some determination; tremblingly she
grasped a pen and wrote a letter to Ben Raaba, the contents of which
never became known to any but herself and the Hindoo doctor. Within
a fortnight she received an answer which seemed to satisfy her.
Within two months she had managed hastily to dispose of all her
personal property and real estate without any reserve, and then
she disappeared from her Western home and surroundings and was lost
forever to her former friends.