Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-05-30
A PHYSICIANS STORY.

strange story the other day apCuC young
couple who lived in the city some twenty
five years ago.
Talk Of fiction, he said, his fine eyes BEAM
ing thoughtfully, I have known stories IN
real life that, should give them to the world
in print, they would be considered the wild,
sensational fances of a madman's brain.
Many years ago was summoned one even
ing to handsome residence in the upper
part of Whitehall street.-the street then most
popular for residences The mistress of the
house had been wife three years. knew
the circumstances of her marriage and the
history of her whole inner life. She was at
the time of her marriage in lova with man
who was separated but not divorced from his
wife, the laws of the Roman Catholic church,
to which he belonged, forbidding divorce.
She married her husband because she was
poor and dependent, and in those days there
seemed little else for woman to do but
marry when she grew up.
The husband was man Of some means, but
a dissipated reprobate, an opium eater and
drunkard, and there had been sad stories
about the wife's wretchedness and the hus-
bands brutality since the marriage
AS I entered the hallway there was an omi-
nous, uneasy look about the servants who met
me- The old negro nurse, who had cared for
the young woman since her childhood, looked
ashy with terror as she whispered:
'Come up stairs, doctor l think my chile
done dead dis time, but b'l'eve you ken bring
her to life.'
followed her silently, and she noiselessly
opened the door of the bedroom where the
mistress lay. I shall never forget the picture
of that young woman she lay in death like
stiffness on the white bed, her face as white
as the pillow over which streamed the raven
like masses of her silky hair.
The delicate brows, the long, curling lashes
were jet black, and the only color about this
face of mourning lay i'll tine full, red lips. 1t
was strikingly like the face of Titian's sleep
ing Venus, and l inhaled its strange sad
beauty with my soul, as my brain was busy
with the question of this woman's strange
condition and its cause. saw in an instant
that she was heavily drugged and turned to
the nurse for an explanation.
''She been dat way five hours" said the old
woman 'fust thought she was asleep, den
when she look like she done daid I sen fur
you den l fine dis bottle by her,"
She handed me an empty morphine phial.
! went Immediately to work giving restora-
tives. By dint of coffee and compelling her
to walk two hours she finally came to herself,
and the old nurse, fairly tagged out, begged
for few minutes rest, as I laid her mistress
on the bed, and so the girl and 1 were left
together.
She opened her eyes, now clear and brill
liant, with look of recognition full upon me.
"You have brought me back" she cried re-
proachfully, ooh, why did you do it?'
Through duty and through humanity"
said calmly. She arose upon her elbow and
her eyes flashed passionately.
Through humanity" she cried. SIS it
humanity to bring back to life an utterly
wretched womans Did you think to save me
from hell by it2 Why hell would be sweet to
me, compared to this place. You are brutal,
inhuman!'
''But think of your child" I protested.
''The little girls soul given into your keep
ing"
"My child,", she cried "Ah! that only
makes me more wretched. You didn't know
took opium, tooa"
A surprised stare was my answer, and she
continued:
"Yes, commenced taking it shortly after
we were married. He gave it to me and I
was coward enough to take it.
"Anything for oblivion; anything to make
me forget his existence and my own. didn't
know the child was coming then. I didn't
think God would be so merciless as to send
me child after that Well, when the child
What sort of mother was for the rearing of
girl-an innocent, clean souled girl? We
have had terrible scenes here today. I think
he is asleep now in the other room. Don't
you hear him?"
I listened as the sound of that weird, stem
torous breathing reached me, and an uncon-
trollable shudder crept over me.
fAh, you shudder just to hear him." she
laughed wildly Imagine living with him;
imagine bis alternate moods of snarling inn
becility and passionate, ungovernable rage.
Then think of my going on in this way and
growing like him. Think of our being the
parents of an innocent child. I shall never
have that baby grow up to know me as her
mother. shall do her the one kind act Of
dying"
I tried to pacify the poor creature with all
the arguments and kindly consultations I
could think of, but to little avail. spoke of
reformation. promised myself to take her
to all asylum where she could be cured. She
shook her head sadly.
ssThey are never cured" she said. 'They
lie and say they are, but it's always a lie.
Before married him he swore he was cured,
and believed him. was fool and he was
liar"
1t was past midnight when left her, APP
parently quiet. She had promised to go to
sleep, and the old nurse lay on cot at her
| feet
The next morning she was dead, and the
| story of her death was kept a secret. The
old nurse knew that it came from hidden
bottle of morphine, and so did I, but we kept
the fact and she received a Christian burial
| A week later the husband left the city with
his child, and his home and property were
| all advertised for sale. Where be went none
knew. and he faded out of the life that had
known him as shadow passes away with the
| sun.
Fifteen years after that entered an apart
/ ment in New York with three young physi-
clans, who had persuaded me to go fortune
telling with them that evening. The strange
story have just told had come wildly up to
me by the fact that discovered one of these
Young men to be the son of the woman's
| lover The room we entered was the queer
est have ever seen. The walls were of pol
ished panels of ebony, hung with bright pic
lures, and having deep frieze of peoples on
| an ebony ground.
| The carpet was crimson, strewn over with
black fur rugs, and the furniture was ebony,
upholstered in crimson Persian silk. There
| were crimson silk shaded lamps here and
| therA and beside one sat a strange figure,
! which arose to greet US as we entered.
ssThat's the sofceress" whispered barley
(tl.e young man l mentioned; his real name
| will not give.
The woman was small, slender creature,
all decked in red satin and black lace. Fer
| high heeled red satin shoes were beaded in
black. and in the black masses OF her hair gilt
tered crescent of rubies
Her face was very dark: she had immense
black eyes and crooked mouth, with little
dimples at the corners, and teeth brilliantly
white She bowed and smiled to the whole
| of us, and then her keen, comprehensive
| glance fell upon barley. Her face grew sud-
denly sad and clouded.
'sYou have all urgent destiny to fulfill"
she said "You have life to save from
present and future perdition. 1t comes to
you as recompense for tive unhappy lives.
| The story of it all is terrible one.
"Ican but dimly see it, but what l see fills
me with horror. l am sorry you came l
am ALWAYS affected by the fortunes OF the