THE MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE.
The chain goes on in endless round,
Its motions slow or fast--
But every link is firmly bound
Twixt present and the past.
For several days after his experiment with that little vial Dr. Seward
was too ill to more than raise his head from the pillow. He was a large,
portly man and the continued nausea from that sickish odor completely
prostrated him.
He would not disclose the cause of his illness to any one, consequently
the wildest rumors floated about among his friends and patients and
almost every affliction in the calendar, from apoplexy to measles, was
ascribed to him. Weeks passed and, although fully restored to health,
the sensations he had experienced could never be quite erased from his
memory, and although he frequently awoke in the morning with the grim
determination to again examine that brownish powder, night invariably
found him as ignorant of its constituents as a good, wholesome fear
could make him.
In a moment of almost unprecedented mischief he labeled the bottle with
the words "Death to the Inquisitive" and laid it carefully away in a
private drawer.
But now that Stella and Sir Frederic was married and they and Mrs.
Sinclair were so happily settled over across the water, his desire to
penetrate the mystery of Maurice Sinclair's identity returned with all
its force.
The bottle was his only clue and that a very unsatisfactory one, as the
one found in Stella's room was empty when discovered. He could not
compare the contents, so what was the use of risking another journey to
the land of spirits, he argued.
But at last science prevailed, and determined not to again defy the
enemy alone, he put the vial in his pocket and ordering his carriage
drove swiftly to Guy's Hospital to ask the assistance of his friend,
the Superintendent of that Institution, in his perilous undertaking. Dr.
Seward related to his friend the particulars of his first experiment and
with the unassuming vial between them, they consulted long and earnestly
on the best method of attack.
The powder was inflammable in air and must therefore be protected. The
first step was to test its solubility, so drawing a small quantity of
water from the Burette into an Erhlenmeyer flask, Dr. Seward carefully
removed the cork and placing the necks of the two bottles together
succeeded in shaking a small quantity of the powder into the water. Then
the vial was recorked and set carefully away. The powder did not
dissolve and the experimenter waved the flask gently back and forth over
the flame of a Bunsen burner while his friend retired to another room to
complete a little experiment that he was working on when Dr. Seward
arrived.
A moment after, he reentered holding a smoking tube in each hand.
"Well how is it?" he enquired, interestedly, as he looked about
anxiously for a stand to place his test tubes in.
"Insoluble in water," was the answer as Dr. Seward held the flask to the
light and scrutinized the particles which were floating, apparently
uninjured, in the almost boiling water.
"See here, Doctor," said the Superintendent desperately, "You have more
hands than I, just now; Do you mind stepping into the office and
bringing me that paper on reactions? You will find it right in my desk."
Dr. Seward rose immediately and passed into the office. Standing by the
open desk with the flask raised high in one hand, with the other he
turned over a pile of papers in the somewhat disordered receptacle.
At last he saw one, wrinkled and stained, and feeling sure that its
demoralized condition was received through the spatters from an
evaporating dish or the careless handling of re-agents, only, he
unfolded it, and shaking his glasses down upon his nose by a clever
movement of the head, glanced carefully over its contents.
"Can't you find it?" called his friend from the Laboratory.
But Dr. Seward did not answer.
The Superintendent found his tube stand, and depositing his work in
safety, started for the office to assist in the search for the required
paper. The two men met in the doorway. For an instant the amazed
Superintendent thought his staid and venerable friend had taken leave of
his senses, or that the unknown substance he was analyzing had developed
some heretofore undiscovered ingredient and the excitement of Dr.
Seward's face was promptly reflected on his own.
"What is it?" he asked excitedly,--"What has happened?"
"Where did you get that?" was the doctor's extraordinary reply as he
held before his eyes a stained and wrinkled Marriage Certificate.
"That?" said the Superintendent, "let's see, where did I get that?" and
he took the paper in his hand and glanced thoughtfully over its
contents.
"Ah,--I remember, the Gardener found it by the front gate a year or two
ago and I saved it thinking I would try and find the owner, but some
way, it has slipped my mind altogether. But why are you so interested?"
he asked, suddenly. "Do you know the parties?"
"I think I do," was Dr. Seward's reply. "Let me take this for a day or
two, Doctor," he said, "and I may be able to clear up a sad mystery by
means of it."
"Certainly, but come, tell me about it. You have aroused my curiosity."
Thinking there could be no harm, the physician told him the entire story
only leaving out his suspicions and Lady Van Tyne's name from the
narrative altogether.
The Superintendent was greatly interested, and as the same Gardener was
still employed on the premises, he sent for him and requested the
particulars of the discovery and the date as near as he could recall it.
Fortunately, as another matter of more importance to the Gardener
occurred on the very day of his finding the paper, he was able to
readily supply the exact date, and reference to the Hospital books
showed plainly that a young women, enceinte and unconscious, had been
found by Dr. Jennings and admitted to the wards that same morning.
One of the nurses recalled her perfectly and mentioned the fact of her
being drenched to the skin when found. Her description of the young
woman tallied exactly with the picture of Elizabeth Merril which the
Doctor had seen at the house in G---- St. Remembering that the only clue
upon which the supposed suicide had been identified, was the finding of
her shawl upon the bridge, he questioned the nurse further and
ascertained the fact that the suffering woman was without a shawl and
that the nurse had herself provided one on the afternoon of the
patient's departure.
Satisfied that Elizabeth Merril was not only an injured wife and mother,
but a living, suffering woman, the now thoroughly interested physician
took possession of the paper, and after ascertaining the whereabouts of
the officiating clergyman by means of a directory, drove immediately to
his address.
The analysis of the brownish powder was for the time forgotten.
Dr. Seward had little difficulty in finding the reverend gentleman of
his search, and as briefly as possible he explained his errand, then
laying the water stained paper before him, he waited with almost bated
breath for the proof of its validity.