Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-09-01

AVA IL 0AO - ASO
to be kept alive must be fed, and one
morning the city editors Of the several
dailies awOke tO find . choice collection
Of new material for interesting reading
and straightway pigeonholed the old
till duller times. And 80 the poor crea-
ture with the wounded intellect was for
gotten.
Avery rich man had suddenly and COM
pletely disappeared under circumstances
so suspicious as to warrant the most
shocking speculations. And the ncwspa-
pers did not spare their readers feel
ings. The reason was simply that the
newspapers had learned from long expe-
rience that their readers did not desire
to be spared-in fact, would be rather
inclined to resent any such forethought
on the part Of the newsgatherers. For
this and the other good reason that the
supplemental mystery Of the assault ON
Ellen Maxey never got into print ut all
the matter dropped.
And SO Maxey's great double mystery
remained in spite of his almost frantic
attempts to dispcl It. No new clcws up
peared, and the old ones, like the foot
steps in the field at Somerset, led no
where. The police were discouraged, and
even DIR. Lamar gave il as his opinion
that time spent in looking into this mat.
ter was time wasted
Miss Maxcy fulfilled the physician S
predictions by getting well in few
days, but the poor, frightened face that
looked forth from the pillows in the lit
tie alcove room was as pale and pitiful rs
ever. The experiments with music, as q
power for good, which promised so
much in the beginning, justified Dr.
Lamar's forebodings in the end. Never
after that first day were the emotions
aroused in the patient of sufficient
strength to cause her to lose conscious
ness. Music always attracted her, inter
| ested her, even drove of for q time that
mOnotonous motion of the hands which
seemed SO dreadful to the strong, healthy
people about her, but it left no perma-
nent impression. 1t was not progressive.
1t was not an educator. Alas for honest
Julian's simple and beautiful idea OF
4
The thought was too poetic for reality.
In vain did pretty Ellen Maxey sing her
sweetest songs. The wan face still turned
with the same mute terror upon her sur.
roundings. The eyes never ceased the
restless search for the horror that did no,
come, and the small, white hands con.
tinued to clasp and unclasp themselves
as of old.
But one day there was change in the
symptoms. A peculiar spasmodic action
OF the muscles of the face and limbs be.
gan to manifest itself When DR.. Lama,
saw this, his face lighted up with sud
den hope.
For long time he had been very
grave. He had gone about in a continual
abstraction and had even been occasion.
ally seen with his umbrella under hi.
arm IN fine weather, an unmistakablc
indication that he was becoming absent
minded. Never before had he met witt
a case which baffled him SO persistently
as this. From the hour when he knell
beside her in the snow by the sea road
and had given his opinion that it was
a very serious matter" the patient had
never been wholly out of his mind.
1t made him angry to think that the
information contained in this first state.
ment of his impressions of the case as
he bent over Ellen Maxey's shoulde,
and saw the white face looking up by
the light Of the lantern was about the
sum and substance of all he had beer
able to learn since, but such was the
fact. What more could he say with any
certainty today than this? To be sure
it had puzzled older men than he, bu
that was small consolation to a MIND
like Lamar's. The greater the obstacles
the more determined he became to over
come them.
Either I will be the death of thi.
problem or it will be the death of me,
he said to himself, and with this con
viction he had set to wori. to save hi
own life. He saw the patient so Otter
that he photographed every look ant
motion she was accustomed to max,
upon his mind. Not the movement of ,
muscle, not the twitching of an cyclic
escaped him. He went about studyin.
every one of these apparent trivialitie
and trying to account for it.
Just as Maxey treasured mp ever,
scrap of evidence which promised t.
throw any light on the great doubl,
mystery which entirely ronpluscd tn
police, SO the physician, constitutin.
himself medical detective, looked upol
the various symptoms Of the girls con
dition as SO many clews to the grea
pathological mystery which was baifiin,
|, him. During the weeks following tn
discovery of Annette he reread almos
his entire library on brain diseases. Aft
erward he borrowed from friend.
One night he came across passag
which startled him. 1t was the particu
lar statement of the symptoms Of q pa
, tieht in q German hospital who die
, with strange malady that completed,
mystified the physicians. The result Q
the post mortem examination appende,
showed that the secret cause of his deaf
was a cerefyral comDlicafiop tho chic