New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-11-05

| In. HufQ had ouoh serious apptehe1etOns
I wss glad that Il was %, Tor, With hel
produced see1D1e results. z .a.sai.
made my oxaminatiop Of the patient ~
cleeely % I could, and drew on my con
illusions. I could have sworn that Mrs
Spencer daily swallowed arsenic In small
quantities, and the deadly drug was telling
fearfully on constitution never very
robust.
She said, answering my questions. that
He had thought himseif better acquainted
with her case, aad therefore better quail
fed to treat il. He never left medicine
with her TO take, be always brought il
fresh from his office, and administeFed il
There was little enough / could do in such
case. anxious t. do everything, the very
circumstances Of the affair left me nearly
power]ess. t.,s I'D. :
A charge Of such . nature, Of course,
could not mako Akaiast DR.. Spencer without
the amplest proof II I limited . suspicion
every one w0old at soce Get it down to my
professional prejudice; and if could NOT
substantiste my stetenent the doctor could
make me pay dearly for such Islander ut
The only dependeaee seemed to be in
Mrs: Hurd. TO her unbosomed myself
freely. told her without reserve that
believed Dr.. Spencer was killing his wife
by slow poison, and boo0ught her to be con-
sta1tly on the watch 70 cave the victim, and
to discover some proof by which we coul1
fasten the guilt upon him.
She smiled grimly and promised obedi-
the poison 1 suspected, and went homo per
tur6ed and anxious in mind. l did not
sleep that night, and all the next day was
in high fever of excitement. A ring at
the bell made me tremble-s step on the
gravel outside my Office stopped my breath,
and hardly knew what expected to hear,
and yet l felt sure that before slept /
should hear something.
And now must tell the story as it was
told to me.
DR.. Spencer returned home the morning
after my visit to Clifton House. he looked
wretchedly, the nurse said appeared
gloomy and depressed. Miss Aelrose came
with him, and was decorously sad over the
death Of her sister. Women of her stamp
neither OverdO nor underdo the thing, as
women Of feeling are likely to do.
Or. Spencer came at once to his wiie's
chamber. He thought she looked III. and
prescribed . cordial 1t once, saying that he
would 60 and fetch it.
"You are always ordering cordials for
her" said Mrs. Hurd, musingly. why not
take something yourself' You look like
ghost"
He eyed her very keenly, but replied COM
pc Il think / VA take come of the cordial
myself, for do not feel quite we'll. Alicia.
dear, shall ! bring it here and drink your
health p
Mrs. Spencer smiled sadly in assent-she
never disputed her hssband-and he went
out. Presently he returned with two
glasses. Both contained liquid, colorless
and inodorous. Mrs. Hurd was watching
him with her hesrt in her throat, for, as she
told me, she felt that the decisive moment
had come. There was something in the
gray pallor in the d0ctor's rigid face that
told her Of desperate purpose in the mans
soul.
He lifted the glass on the right of the
tray and gave it to his wife. ..,
Drink it, DEAR" he said; lit is pauacea
for all evils. l also am going to take glass
Of it" and he pointed to glass still on the
tray.
Mrs. Spencer accepted it, and was put
ting it to her lips, when Mrs. Hurd inter-
rupted:
dial leaves bad taste in her mouth, and
my old bones are 90 full of rheumatism that
1t nearly kills me to 60 down stairs"
The doctor turned, and bent on her look
as if he would read her through. But she
kept her face impassive. If he had any
suspicious her manner quoted them, and
putting down the glass he left the ROOM
Then Mrs. Hurd changed the position Of the
glasses.
When he came back-and he was gone
but moment-the nurse stood just exactly
where he had left her. and Mrs. Spencer
was lying back in her chair with her eyes
Again he lifted the glass-this time it was
the one intended for himself-and placed it
at the lips Of his wife. She drank the con-
tents, swallowed little of the water he had
brought her and thanked him in her sad,
sweet way.
Now for my own cordial" said he, with
affected gaiety. "Iindulge myself in some
thing little stronger" and as he spoke he
tossed of the mixture.
lit made me stone cold to my fingers
ends to sec him do it," said Mrs. Hurd, re-
lating the circumstance to me, "but Heaven !
conscience. argued like this: If it Was a |
simple cordial, as he had said, it would do |
him no harm. If it was poison, this blood !
would be on his own sinful head"
He went to bed halt an hour afterward, |
Of fatigue. In the morning |
they found him dead!
was called to the post mortem examine |
ton, and we discovered in the stomach Of |
the deceased sufficient quantity Of the |
deadliest poison known to modern science |
to kill half dozen men.
My brother physicians agreed that the
man was insane, and had probably taken |
the doctor in one Of his unsettled fits of |
mind. | did not dispute them, but even
before Mrs. Hurd told her story, had nv
own theory in regard to his death.
There was no public exposure. however:
Mrs. Hurd and l agreed that it would profit
no one to make the wretched affair public,
and so we kept our own counsel.
Miss MelrOse, in spite Of nv conviction |
that she had been an active party in the |
against Mrs. Spencer's life, /
could not help plying. Such miserable,
worn and haggard face as hers have never
seen, and when they buried DR.. Spencer
she was confined to her chamber with brain
fever.
l attended her in her illness, but although
'he recovered her health, she never was her
self again. She was q harmless maniac.
whose delight was in gathering flowers and
the doctors grave with them.
She 10 living still, and she still gathers
lowers and lays them on that grave, sing
ng to herself, meanwhile, sort of low in
;antatlon which NO one ever pretends to un-
ierstand.
Not until Mrs. Spencer had been manv
lays my wife, and the faithful Mrs. Hurd
'lept under the vi0lets, did Alicia ever
Know the perfdy Of her former husband.
And when l told her. after the first shock
Nas over; she crept into my arms and
But if it had not been for James crime
should not have found you, Herbert. So
rood sometimes d0ea come o,% IF a,,;I ;, |