The Dickinson press., 1894-10-06

read,) in large, clear letters: DO you
remember Your nephew Paul:" This I
held to old Jaques. SO that the light
fell upon 1t. 1t. evoked no kind of re.
sp0nse either of eye or mouth. Per-
haps 1 had not placed it at the proper
focus for him to read. I tried to find
the true distance. first by my own sight
and by Birley's, and lastly l presented
1t to that OF JaQues again. This time
his eyes seemed to seize it, and the fin
gers of his right hand twitched and
trembled, as IL he wished to hold the
paper. l placed my right hand on his.
n was alarmed to find his fingers
convulsively close on it. l slludder
ed at their cold clasp; l ever fancied-
perhaps in my excitement l was mis-
taken-that vigor passed ont Of nv
arm and trembled into his: but if It
did Its force soon died. With some
difficulty l undid the clasp of his long.
thin fingers. Meantime his eyes had
wandered from the paper and could
not be induced to return to it. Birley
agreed with me that it would be well
to strive no more with him that night,
Walking back through the village to-
gethcr we decided upon our next step
in this attempt to get something from
old JaQues. The following day we met
in the town and went to consult a well
known physician. Birley laid on me
the task Of stating our case. l made
it as clear as l could without being too
explicit. / said we wished to get some
evidence, II possible. regarding i'm event
that had happened eighteen months
before from All old nan who had been
03fhnls n M VfiN1 r1s 81 nn,nV,1>tn ~ ,,cI,1:o
for some years-we wished to get it as
soon as possible: could the physicians
knowledge Of such cases suggest its
method?
"HOW old was the man?' he asked,
Somewhere about seventy" said Rir-
ley. u had thought him older.)
And he was Il paralytic when this
event happened he was wanted TO re-
MEMBER"
YES" said Birley; but 1 believe he
was at that time pretty clear in the
head"
: "Was he now completely paralyzed?"
I answered that during the summer
his right limbs seemed incline. to exert
themselves Il little; and l told him my
experience OF the night before with
Jaques' right hand. He seemed some
what struck With it.
"Well," said the physician, "your re-
quest is singular: l do not think I
have ever been presented with Il sim
liar one. But You say the evidence
you seek is of great conseluence?-you
cannot. of course. expect any speech
from him clear enough to understand.
But, you may sc! what you want by
~Writing-may you not: I would then
recommend that you Should rub the
right hand AMI arm with b%randy-the
best brandy-say. three times Il day;
be careful not to fatigue him; and
give him according as he will take it,
some brandy in milk, say two table
spoonfuls of brandy to the %teacupful
of milk. You may have to do that. for
Il week or more, or even longer. before
the nan will find his hand obey his
will. And even then I must warn you
that you may find his memory is not
trustworthy! and more than that, if
you succeed in getting what you want,
the treatment and excitement you sub
ject him to may prove too much for
him; he may afterward lapse back
into complete N%rOstration from which
he may never recover ut ALL"
So we left the physician. Birley in
sisted upon paying the whole of his
fee himself. We were both rather
aghast ut the dilemma presented to our
chance-tO try to gain our point by
the only method the doctor had sug-
gested would he to endanger old
Jaques' feeble life; not to try was to
leave the Lacroix mystery where it
was. We were both silent regarding
it for some time. At length Birlcy
vented his disquietude.
II wish," said he, I'VE could leave
the thing alone. 1t seems q shabby
business to set about trying to show up
my own sisters husband. I would let
it alone, too, although Manuel has be-
haved SO i'll to me-. ii it wasn't that the
man that's lost was my own dear
friend"
"And them" said I, somewhat alarm
ed, remember the danger Miss La
croix is in of being plundered and dis
posed of whether she will or no."
'True for you, lad,' said he. "Well,
l suppose We must go through with 1t,
and be as careful Of tn old chap as we
can"
1 undertook to wait upon Jaques the
three times a day (sfnce Rirley was 0c.
cupted with his business until the even
ing), and to do my best to see that he
was regularly supplied with his stimu.
lative drink. On the evening of the first
day Of u experiment Birley came to
the cottage. while I was engaged in
the operation of rubbing in the brandy.
"I've been thinking" said he, that
th' old chap seems to TAX more notice
of you than Of me; I suppose he can
see you're educated like himself! So
you'd better ask him the questions and
all that, eh?"
I agreed to do so, but thought all
questioning should be postponed for q
day or two.
"Just try him with that paper again.
said he.
I presented to Jacques's sight tht
question of the day before: do 70,
remember your nephew, Paul?"
1 could not tell from the look of hi
eyes whether they seized it or not. Iii.
gaze, however. dwelt on it for some mo
ments, then wavered and turned to me
Then his eyebrows twitched and hi,
mouth made as If it would form speech
with the result, as usual, of only som
inarticulate sounds like grunts. From
this effort he desisted and looked, un
steadily as Il drunkard might look, a
his right hand working in his lap.
The next night the same kind O
thing was gone through, and the next
and the next. For nearly four day,
I had been constantly with the paral
ytic from morning till night, exceptin,
only such intervals as I naeded To-
hurried meals ut my lodgings.
On the afternoon Of the fifth day
while John was absent carrying hi
shell-fish round the village. and while
was assiduously rubbing Jaques' han,
and arm with the brandy, a light. tai
came to- the cottage door, the latci
was Immediately raised, and there en-
tered of all persons the most unexpect
ed-Steinhardt himself! l ought no
to have been surprised at his appear
%anceance, for my frequent comings an,
goings to the cottage could not hav
passed unobserved in such q place a
the village, and news of any kind, q
every II knows, in small and primitiv
communities, seem to propagate itsel