Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1854-06-16


she had lost her appetite and sleep,
and was, in fact, fast sinking under
the impression that the hour indca-
ted was fated to be her last.
At first, | was quite rejoiced to
find it was not worse and rub
bling my hands with even more APP
parent glee than | really felt, ask
ed her how she could possibly have
allowed an uneasy dream, engend-
cred, no doubt, by the mystic ma
ture of the book she had been read
ing, to disturb her so much, adding
a few testing observations but the
mournful expression of her counle-
nance checked me, and, al last, TAX
ing it up seriously, | endeavored,
by every argument that suggested
itself to me, calling in the aid OF re-
ligion, philosophy and common
sense, to demolish the monster her
imagination had raised. In vain. |
could not flatter myself that even
for a moment her belief wavered.
When | rose to depart, which |
did, promising myself to return a.
gain and again, when | had consid-
cred the case a little, she gave me a
letter, sealed with black, to deliver
to her husband after death. Rehec-
ton added considerably to the unea-
siness | already felt | saw in her
altered form what dire havoc mag
nation had already made ; and when
the extreme nervous susceptibility
of her system was considered, there
was bat too much reason 10 apprc
bend the very worst might happen,
unless her mind could be relieved
from the present state of painful
tension by some most satisfactory
and conclusive means. Telling her
husband his wife required amuse-
ment and change, and requesting
him to procure her daily some friend
ly society, so that she could be as
little alone as possible, paid her
myself long and frequent visits. All
my spare moments | employed in
searching books for anecdotes and
arguments which | trusted might
prove more convincing than my
own.
Often in the night | congratulate
ed myself on having found some
new light wherein to place it, that
would at once satisfy her. Still in
vain all my efforts failed in chang
lug into hesitation the firm, fixed
belief, so clearly to be read in her
calm, mournful eyes. My prescrip-
tions failed equally in improving her
bodily health. saw her waste al
most as | watched her; felt her
pulse grow slower aud wooker nm
dor my fingers, aud the fatal night
was fearfully near al hand. My anx-
iety rose almost to agony-indeed, |
am persuaded that fortnight of
such suffering would have finished
the doctor as well as the PATENT
All imas mary expedients | thought
of and rejected-among Others that
of brihing two men TO come for
ward and confess they had entered
her apartment and acted the warn
ing scene for a lark or wager; but
as she told me their features were
indeiibly impressed upon her mind,
] abandoned that.
The scheme on which | paused
the longest, was that of giving her
on the fatal night, dose of lauda-
mum, 50 that she shonld sleep over
the dreaded hour; but her raE-
idly increasing weakess obliged me
to relnquish that as dangerous; aud
the nearer the day approached, the
more Obvious it became that her
constitution would not stand opium
[ asked the opinion of several of
the most eminent men of the day
but las | could not introduce any
of them TO her without at once pro-
wing TO her how i'll | thought her,
and which would have had the most
disastrous effect, without seeing
her and understanding her tempera-
ment, they couldnot conceive her
danger, and thought she would get
over il with a fright. Thrown thus on
my own resources, with the life of
this young creature, wife and mo-
ther, depending on the wisdom of
my treatment, neglected most of
my patients TO devote myself TO her,
and spent all my evenings with her
and husband Her manners were
always most winning, but became
daily more so she spoke To ms all
with such an affectionate expression,
il appeared almost as though she
thought to secure our love for her
memory, when she herself should
be summoned away.
On the evening of the 9th of A.
pril, the evening but one before the
dread night, she was suddenly seiz-
ed with a violent fit of Mysteries,
succeeded by fainting fits, Col.
Delaware, who for some time past
had, with the usual blindness Of af-
fiction, imagined that his wife was
recovering, now, for the first time,
as he knelt by the side of the bed
10 which he had carried her, percei-
we'd partly the imminence of her dam
ger. cheered him, poor fellow, as
much as possible, and on seeing
Mrs. Delaware comparatively restor-
ed, returned home and after a
night of most anxious consideration
as 10 the means of getting my pa
tient over the dreaded midnight