The evening times., 1899-07-08
THE STORY OF HELRY CROFT.


town of Fensham. It is quantity gabied
structure Of Elizabethan date. covered with
white stucco and Wistaria, and abutting
right on the main street of the town at its
juncture with North Lane. At the end of
the North Lane front of Heley Croft there
are two or three cottages which run up
into the corner Of the Croft, one being al
most embedded in it's crooked walls. 9th
erwise, the house is surrounded on two
sides with a garden-a genuine old-fash-
ioned affair, with 1awn-Iike velvet and the
shade CT some venerable elms
When Whyte took the place he had just
purchased a partnership with the Bed
dards. the family solicitors of FenshaIn,
and he had also just married young wife.
saw good deal Of the Whytes about this
time Curiously enough, had known them
both years before they first knew each 9TH
er and surprised their friends by their mu-
tual attachment. 1t was strange marriage,
for Tommy Whyte was smart, level
headed man of the world, and Margaret.
Mrs. Whyte / suppose l should call her
was successful opera singer, an ethereal
beauty, who had been wholly wrapped in
her art since she was a child. and whose
purity of character and superb voice had
captivated the world as soon as she ap-
peared behind the footlights. In ordinary
my got on like turtle doves
see from my diary that it was October
II when the story of Heley Croft began for
me. l had had heavy day for a country
town-forty- one patients. and feeling tired
In the evening. / stepped across the street
after dinner to have chat and cigar with
Whyte
This is providential. old man." was his
greeting My wife has been upset all day
wnf1Id m nf for
She says there's nothing the matter, but
it would ease my mind il you would have
a look at her."
/ smiled at the young husbands ankle
ty, but received a shock when we had
hunted up Mrs. Whyte. She had the pallor
and heavy expression of sleeplessness, and
| sat in lstless attitude, but, worse than
| that, her beautiful eyes had acquired q
| foreign eXpression-one OF abject terror.
| Her whole bearing was utterly strange to
| her, and l could not ascertain that there
| was anything to account for her indisposi-
| ton. Her state was puzzle. 1t seemed
that Whyte had gone up town the previ-
| GUS day on business, and had been detain-
ed over night. but not Unexpectedly. When
he arrived home he found his wife just as
l had seen her, and not a syllable OF ex-
| PLANTATION could she offer.
| We sat up chatting long after Mrs.
|
| ton; and Whyte explained to me- with
agitated expression, that she had impera-
lively desired him to occupy a spare bed
room which looked out into the street.
while she had gone to her usual chamber.
| This was on the other side of the house,
and had a big window commanding the
garden.
Il humored her, of course" he said;
| but, all the same, / do not understand
the wish. She seemed so very intent upon
| it,
| No doubt" / replied, "she is only
| afraid OF restlessness, and wants you to be
ft for work tomorrow. I can see she had
a poor night last night. l will look in
again tomorrow"
But listen, Aspley." objected Whyte.
She says she is not Ill, and that there is
no need to see you further professionally
In fact, she says she won't see you"
With little romancing, I dare say !
can find reason for coming l laughed.
Don't worry yourself
Well. next day l went to Heley Croft
again in the evening, and / found Whyte
! had worried himself His Wife was worse
much worse. She had just the air OF a
woman thoroughly run down, and her
fixed gaze of horror was quite trying to
look at. She appeared about FIVE years
older. too. The transformation in twenty
four hours was so marked that il gave me
a disagreeable surprise. and the unfortu-
nate husband was quite distracted
She persists he confided to ne. that
she will be alone at night, and it was dur
ing last night that she got so much worse
| never heard sound, although l had
sleeplesS time myself through anxiety"
prescribed mild tonic and a change o.
scene for few days. for really there Was
nothing in the British Pharmacopoeia tC
meet the case as far as could make out
Whyte had only just come home from hi:
honeymoon, and it made the BedIard
grumble when he took himself off fo
another week; but he went with his wife t
Malvern, where an intimate friend of min,
is in practice. There was no need for con
suit him, for Mrs. Whyte got rapidly bet
ter, and looked almost herself when sh
returned TO Heley Croft. While she VA
away, too. we tried a little experiment
anI invented an excuse for putting one O
the servants in her room at night, for
could not somehow divest myself OF tn
idea that there was some connection be
tween the two solitary nights and the i'll
ness. We might have saved ourselves tn
trouble the servant made no complaint
l met the Whytes at the station acci
dentally when they returned and wa
so much treasured that 1 began to fee
rather foolish at having been so very in
terested in the case. Judge of my aston
ishment, therefore when at breakfast tabl
next morning, the following note wa
handed TO me from Tommy:
| Dear Aspley: Come across at once, for God
sake. Margaret is much worse than before.
I hastened across to Heley Croft, an
| Whyte himself met me at the door, look
ing terribly alarmed.
| at is worse than ever" he said, as h
conducted me inside. Maggie would b
alone last night, and when / got UP thi
morning she was simply deathly. Wha
the dickens can be the matter?''
The patients appearance more than con
frmed his words. She was in a shockn
state of prostration, and could scarcel
rise or speak.
"Tom." l said, Il want a confidentfa
chat with your wife.
He took the hint, and went out. "
sat in her old fashioned, oak-paneled bou
doir or morning room, and ! plunged int
the matter at once.
My dear lady," said, ''if your husban
had to defend case he would require t
know all the facts, whichever way the
might tell, and then use his own judgment
Now, rgive me, you are keeping some
thing back. You must be cured, but W
cannot get at the seat of the trouble ii
we know all about it. You really mus
trust me with what you have been hidin
from Tom
Her whole frame trembled and shudder
ed, but she made no answer
1 pressed the matter again, and then sh
spoke, in little more than terrified whis
per.
DIR Aspley," she murmured, ''yo
would not believe me. 1t is too horrible.
. | ION the contrary" l replied, I'VE doc
tors have to believe what seems to be i'm