Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-05-24
CHAPTER I.
THE PATIENT.

the other. a single sentiment in the
timid trembling of the pale lips, i'll the
EXPRESSION Of the delicate nostrils, in the
nervous contraction of the brows that
accompany it.
For a mind which betrays itself in a
countennnce such as this, all the posi-
hilities of existence, all that remains Of
life and happiness, can be summed up in
one terrible word-fear Henceforth
this was all that the infinite world Of
thought and all the endless pleasure of
being could mean to this poor creature.
in the midst of the sunshine, the free
air, the song of the birds, the whisper
OF lovers the voices Of friendship she
must continue to live on as unconscious
of them all as if her life had been mar
rowcd down TO the darkest dungeon of
an inquisition.
70 deprive a face that beams with
intelligence and beauty of the one light
that makes it priceless, to blot out in
the twinkline Of an eye that unmeasured
universe that exists in the brain of an
individual and leave III its place soil
tarv candle like this glimnering in the
nght-what a mcasureless crime! And
such a crime has been committed Does
il add anything to the depth of the in
fanny on 20 the burden of the guilt that
'he poor victim was but 10 and had
been struck down in the fullness of
health and strength?
The patient sat on the edge of the bed
from which she had lately arisen in an
ulcove chamber opening into a large
apartment, furnished like a sitting room.
Two grave and interested physicians,
one gray haired and advanced i'll years,
the other OF middle age We're watching
her. There was no evidence that either
of these men comprehended anything of
the unutterablc pathos of the situation.
Their problem was purely phySiolog
ical one. The moral aspects of the case
concerned them only where they aided
q diagnosis. The cpaseless uneasy mo-
tion Of the poor girl hands, clasping
and unclasping themselves in her lap,
TN" pathetic cry, without an attempt at
articulation. that she uttered from time
- rimo, these We're the matters that in
tcro,tcd them.
II have observed a very curious
tbng, the elder physician was saying.
cit is possible, OF course, that | may be
mistaken, but if | am not then this girl
possesses a curious power in remark
able degree >
The younger man repeated the phrase
with no little wonder, "A curious pow
tr?'
YES very curious mower | should
say Of what, for want OF better term.
will call optical retention. 1'ou know
what ! mcan:'
No.
IL mean the faculty of retaining a
scene in the mind after the eyes are
closed or the scene removed. We all
have it in varying degrees You men
ton the writing table at my Office. and
Immediately an image, tolerably dis
tinct, of the size shape aud general APP
pcarance Of the table rises before my
?ucntal vision. / mean simply, if this
girl We're familiar with the looks of that
table and she could be made to under
stand what | am talking about. she
would sec the object in question so vivid
lv that it would he to her almost the
roalitY-perhaps | might say, practical
y the reality.
Ine younger physician regarded the
speaker in silent wonder.
You don't take my meaning"
"Oh, perfectly! My term for it is Wis.,
nalization What puzzles Inc is that YOU
should see any evidences of it here
What has she done to show it,"
Not any one thing so much as every
thing. | generaiZe it from a careful OBJ