_"'Tis the good reader that makes the good book; a good head cannot read
amiss; in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides
hidden from all else and unmistakably meant for his ear...._"
_"Every man has a history worth knowing, if he could tell it, or if we
could draw it from him."_--Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I was sitting in my office, with my head in my hands, and with both
elbows resting on my desk. I was tired in every nerve of my body;
more than that, I was greatly puzzled over the strange conduct of my
predecessor in the college, whose assistant I had been, and whose place
I was appointed to fill during the unexpired term for which he had been
elected lecturer on anatomy.
That morning he was to introduce me to the class formally as his
successor, deliver his last lecture, and then retire from active
connection with anatomical instruction.
Everything appeared to be perfectly arranged, and, indeed, some of the
younger men--under my direction--had taken special pains to provide our
outgoing and much admired professor with rather unusual facilities for a
brilliant close to his career as our instructor.
I was feeling particularly pleased with the arrangements, when, after a
neat little speech on his part, commendatory of me, and when we supposed
him to be about to begin his lecture, he suddenly turned to me and
said, bluntly: "You will be so good as to take the class to-day. Young
gentlemen, I bid you good morning," and abruptly took up his hat and
left. I sat facing an expectant and surprised class of shrewd young
fellows, and I was quite unprepared to proceed.
I had intended my first lecture to be a great success. It was ready
for the following day; but my notes were at home, and my position can,
therefore, be better imagined than described.
I was thinking over this and the strange behavior of my generally
punctilious predecessor, when he entered my office, unannounced, and,
after the ordinary salutations and apologies for having placed me in so
undesirable a position in the morning, he told me the following episode
from his history. I will give it in his own words, omitting, as far as
possible, all comment made by me at the time, thus endeavoring to leave
you alone with him and his story, as I was that night. This will better
enable me to impart the effect to you as it was conveyed to me at the
time. It greatly interested me then, but the more I think it over,
the less am I able to decide, in my own mind, all of the psychological
questions which it aroused then and which it has since called up. This
is the story.