St. Landry democrat., 1878-09-28


I advanced to the door and knocked,
} but there was no answer. Again L
knocked, but there still being DO reply,
I turned the handle of the door and
opened it.
The room itself was a wretched one,
| not ten or twelve feet square, with only
a wall on three sides; on the other, the
rattels of the roof ran up and joined
them, while its only light came from
diamond paned easement, so thick with
accumulated dust and dirt that the
dawn could scarcely struggle through.
saw this at glance, but what [ did
not see was the patient whom was sum-
| moned to attend. There was certainly
no woman there-only man who sat on
the edge of truckle bed, which was the
only piece of furniture in the room. He
had pipe in his mouth: and sat in
sort of meditative attitude, with his
back toward me, one elbow resting on
his knee, and he did not even stir as |
opened the door.
81 beg your pardon" began, to at
tract his attention but he made no sign
that he heard me.
| repeated the words with similar
result, and, beginning to grow curious
as to the cause of his insensibility,
stepped forward so as to place myself
before him,
Even as I did so my professional
eve told me the cause of his silence );
for, as he sat there in his half-couch-
ing attitude, with his long disordered
hair thrown back from his almost
liyid face, with one hand thrust into
his pocket, as though concealing some
thing, and his teeth c!enched upon the
stem of his short, black pipe, his hollow,
sunken eyes looked at me with the livid
glare of madness.
A sense Of the full extent of my peril
came to me in an instant, and q fear,
such as | have seldom felt before or since,
almost overpowered me. | was alone
with mad man in this vile place, where
any call for assistance would be worse
than useless. More than this, it was
evident that the maniac, with the pre-
ternatural dunning that accompanies his
malady, had decoyed me here for seme
purpose of his own. Even his seeming
deafness had been a ruse, for now that
my change of position placed him be-
tween me and the door, he rose and lock-
ed it, took the key from the lock and
sent it crashing through the glass of the
window into the street below.
With An effort I shook off the terrified
feeling that had come upon me, for l
knew my only hope lay in not allowing
him to perceive that I feared him.
"What is the meaning of this ?" l
asked, in 8 naughty manner, taking a
step or two toward him. 'Open that
door instantly, and let me 60 cut. This
is not the room I expected to come to"
Unlike any other madman I had ever
seen, he did not attempt to evade my
eye. He made step toward me, and
seized the lapel of my coat.
Il know that, doctor,' he said, with 8
hoarse sort of cbuckle; but it is just where
I meant you should come You must for
give me the deception, bat it was the only
way l could get to see you, and see you l
must. I have heard cf you in the hos
pitals, and you reminded me of what l
was myself before--ah-h."
His voice died away into sortef gurg~
ling sound, and he clntched fiercely at
his breast with his right hand, as if some
sudden pain had struck him. while the
gleam in his eyes became even more
fierce than before.
"Yes" he went on, II was once like
you. While was still hey | could
perform such difficult operations as the
most skilljul of our professors would say
it was impossible to do. Every one said
I would one day be a shining light of
science, and so ! would have done. But
| made a discovery JnaJ would nave
revolutionized the whole practice Of sur
gerry and medicine-that would have
changed the whole principle of animal
lite -
He drew himself up to his full height,
and stepped back pace to see the effect
of his words upon me. I knew his mood
would change at any moment, and all l
could do was to humo- him.
"You interest me-" I said. "Go on"
"Would you know what it was? I
was to give q man two fountains of life
instead of one it was to make the force
of any any animated being so strong and
rich that it could not be destroyed it
was to raise the human race, to elevate
it unto race of demi gods. l could
have done it, too did do it, snd !
told my friends whom trusted,
and an envy of my genius seiz-
ed upon them, and they shut nae
up in mad-house for years-I, the dis
coverer, beside whom Harvey's discovery
of the circulation of the blood was but q
notion to please child-shut up with
driveling idiots in a mad-house."
"But," I said, seeing maniac's fury
was beginning to overpower him at the
Thought Of his fancied wrongs, chow