The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-01-04

dead on her account It's enough to
make man curse his profession. God
knows, l did my best for her.
YOU'RE run down and morbid, doc
tor, said l. GO home and get a good
sleep, and think no more about it. He'd
have killed himself just the same,
whether you had ever seen the case or
not. He was of the suicidal tempera-
ment-I always thought So
Did you, indeed? said he; and it
seemed to relieve him. For all that,
he said, science is an awful RESPONSE
bility. A great deal of medicine is no
more than guess work. We can never
be quite sure that we haven't made a
fatal mistake. If thought you would
take my advice, would tell you to give
it up, and break stones on the road for
a living, if you could do nothing else
But meanwhile had been doing a
good deal of thinking, and some invest
igating, without saying anything to
anybody. BY degrees | was led to GER
tam conclusions: and at last | thought
! could not do better than go and con-
suit Bacarac about them, even at the
mind. So turned up at his Office one
evening, and he received me as if he
was glad to see me. 4 wish you would
come oftener, he said.
Before long the talk got round to
the Talbots. I have made some queer
discoveries about that, doctor, said |.
Discoveries How's that?' SAID he,
looking round at me.
why, doubt if Talbot killed him
self, after all
ale Strengthened up in his chair as
if an electric spark had been run
through him. He looked at me as if
he'd look through me. That's seri-
Gus thing to say, he said at last.
81 know it, and that's why I've come
to ask your advice before going fur
ther. For if anything is to be done
about this thing, doctor, we ought to
do it together
''He had seemed agitated at first, but
now he became quiet as stone.
Well, what is it you think you have
got hold OFF said he, leaning back in
his chair and crossing his feet on the
hearth rug. It's i'll work digging up
the past
Its i'll work digging up corpses of
any kind, doctor. OF course, it's done
in our profession every day, but
it risky work Whether the motive is
good or bad from our point of view, the
outsiders don't like it.
But poor Talbot's motive was GER
tainlv eXcusa bic, though
Il interrupted him: Another idea
of mine is 1 said, that it was not Tai
bot who disinterred her.
Really! You have a complete new
theory, then?' said he, with smile,
~ don't say it's complete, doctor;
but if you and put our heads together
we may make it so. I'll just explain
where l am, and then we'll see. For
one thing, she was buried in white
dress, with a lace edging round the
throat you remember that?
81 can't say do; but what of it?'
"'What we found in Talbot's sitting
room was her naked body, with only
some black cambria round it. He had
had the white dress put on her for the
funeral; why should he have taken it
off after digging her up? And, after
taking it off, why should he wrap her
in coarse, black cambria? What was
his object in bringing her home at all?
One can understand his killing himself
on her grave, or even digging her up
and dying on her corpse; but he must
have got a vehicle to take her home
with, with the risk of exposing himself,
and with no compromising advantage.
Then, having got her home, why didn't
he put her on the bed, or on a sofa, at
least, instead Of on the floor? She
was tossed down any way, as if she
were bundle of carpet
"'All these things, my dear sir, said
Bacarac, are strange enough from
one point of view, but easily ex-
plica bic on another There is no doubt
in my mind that Talbot was actually
insane; and what an insane man may
or may not do IS past conjec turing
THAT explanation occurred to me,
DOCTOR but it won't cover some of the
other facts For instance, though the
street door was locked, the key was
not on the inside; and it has never
been found at all. Why should
he have taken it out after lock-
ing the door, and why should he
have been at the pains to hide it? A
man so insane as he would never have
thought of that Then, again, he
must have brought the body
either in a wagon or in wheel
barrow; if the first, what be-
came of the team after he got the body
home, for he had none of his own; and
if a wheelbarrow, what became of
that? Besides, he could never have
wheeled that body, in its white dress,
| through the streets of the town, in a
wheelbarrow. Supposing him to have
first wrapped it in the black cambria,
what did he do with the dress? He did
not burn it, nor did he bury it in the
grave. Then, as to the grave: Why
did he fill it in so carefully, instead of
leaving it open? Having got the body,
he would want to bring it right home;
| he would never stop to fill up the
grave again. Besides, it was a damp
night, and the loan was muddy; but
there was no dirt on his dress, or even
on his boots. No, doctor, whoever else
dug up Mrs. Talbot and carried her to
Talbot's house, it is as plain as day