Sharp County record., 1880-09-02
DIR. BISTOURY'S NIGHT-WATCH.
MAN.

"Tell you what, Doctor; you'll be
getting robbed and murdered one OF
these days; you will, upon my word!"
Hardly, my boy. You ought to
know by this time that its the province
of us doctors to kill other people, not
to be killed ourselves" And with a
thick chuckle at his own wit, DR.. John
Hunter Bistoury settled himself COM
fortably in his chair and began to peel
his third orange as carefully as if he were
taking off limb.
81 can assure you, my dear Harry"
resumed the genial Doctor, that it's
amazingly tiattering to me to find my
self considered worth robbing at all.
No thief would have thought me worth
centre-bit in the days when your poor
father-as fine fellow, Harry, as ever
breathed-used to come and sup with
me upon biscuit and toasted cheese in
my little snuggery down town. And
then, as surely as the time came to 60,
he'd turn to me and say: Now, Jack,
old boy, won't you think better Of it
and let me write you check-just to
give you a fair start, you knowP But
although l knew well enough that he'd
have been only too glad to do it, | had
to refuse; for my motto is, Heaven
helps those who help themselves"'
"a motto which you'll find some
black masked gentleman exemplifying
in this very house one of these nights, "
growled Harry Everett. "Look here,
Doctor; Pm not joking-Pm not indeed!
Everybody knows you're rich man;
and it's abroad that there's room in
your house which is always shutu the
very thing 70 make, people think there
must be something very valuable slowed
away there; and yet after all that, you
go living in this big house without a
soul near you except the cook and old
Sam yonder, who wouldn't be worth a
cent in real scrimmage.'
"Well, my boy" said the Doctor,
with a curious smile, "would it tran
quilize your mind if were to engage
q night-watchmanp
Il should think so. That would be
just the thing"
Every good. Consider it done"
This room, of which Harry had
spoken as being "always shut up" was
standing puzzle to the Doctors few
intimates. Not a man ofthem had ever
crossed its threshold; and its master,
when questioned on the subject, an
swered only by some joking evasion
Rumor whispered that one adventurous
gentleman, rendered desperate by his
wife's threat to give him no peace till
he found out "what DR.. Bistoury kept
hid in that room of his" had actually
attempted burglarious entrance but
the attempt, if ever made, had been
unsuccessful. 1t is needless to say that
countless conjectures, and not a few
heavy bets likewise, were being con-
stantly made respecting the contents of
the Bluebeard chamber. Many de-
clared that the Doctor had fitted it up
as a private laboratory, in the hope Of
discovering the Philosophers Stone.
Others were equally positive that it
contained the hoardings of his whole
life in American gold,I his opinions be-
ing notoriously of the "hard-money'
order. A rival prac itioner, of a some
what cynical turn, suggested that it
must contain the remains of the unfor-
tunate patients who had perished under
"that fellow Bistoury'sn ministratiOns;
and one imaginative lady, deeply read
in "Jane Eyre" stout.y maintained
that the Doctor, in imitation of the hero
of that famous work, had immured his
wife in this mysterious Oubitette, in order
to enjoy unchecked the freedom of a
bachelor life. Against this ingenious
theory there was only one thing to be
said-the Doctor had never had wife
TO immure. This fragrant treason
against the sex was the more unpar-
donable, inasmuch as he had had abun-
dant opportunities of changing his con-
dition, had he but chosen to avail HIM
self of them. To most of those who
questioned him on the subject, he re-
piled that he was welded to his profess
sion and that any other union would be
fiat bigamy; but to his friend Harry
Everett, in a moment of after dinner
confidence, he told very different
story.
my medical cousin Alice was the
woman who ought to have been Mrs.
Bistoury, and an admirable fellow
practitioner she would have made for
me. II lie 1ssy ii II ifisii she eSss
splinter out of my thumb, did equal
honor to her hand and heart; and when
she was only thirteen she boughta skel-
eton with her uncle's birthday gift of
five dollars a fact1 and articulated it
in manner that was really mastery.
But in an evil hour she became tainted
with fancy for homeopathy; and after
that, of course all was over between us.
Such is lifer'
The Doctors agreement to engage a
night-watchman quieted Harry's appre-:
tensions for the time being; but few
weeks later he returned to the attack