Omaha daily bee., 1902-12-21
Copyright, 1901 by T. c. McClure.)
CHAPTER XIV.
I Am Called for Consultation.

'11 ~ AeAhAa - 90 NA'H
for when a few minutes later my chief en-
tered the study his face, usually ashen
gray, was flushed with excitement.
I've been having some trouble with a
lunatic,' he explained, after greeting me
and inquiring why / had come down to
consult him. The woman's people are
anxious to place her under restraint, yet for
the present there is not quite sufncient evil
dence of insanity to sign the certificate.
Did you overhear her in the next room?''
And seating himself at his table he looked
at me through his glasses with that pair Of
keen. penetrating eyes that age had not
dimmed or time dulled.
81 heard voices" I admitted. THAT was
all" The circumstance was a strange one,
and those words we're so ominous that /
was determined not to reveal to him the
exact words | had overheard.
Like many other women patients suffer-
ing from brain troubles, she has taken a
violent dislike to me, and Believes that I'm
the very devil in human FORM" he said,
smiling. Fortunately she had a friend
with her. or she might have attacked me
tooth and nail just now" and. leaning back
in his chair. he laughed at the idea
laughed so lightly that my suspicious we're
almost disarmed.
" nut 4hAANs Alhu gOu btth III my Anb
you would have had your curiosity and
suspicion reused to no mean degree-not
only by the words uttered by the woman and
Sir Bernard's defiant reply. but by the fact
that the female voice sounded familiar.
A man knows the voice OF his love above
all. The voice that l had heard In that ad-
joining room was to the best OF my belief
that OF Ethelwynn!
with a resolution TO probe this mystery
slowly and without unseemly haste l
dropped the subject and commenced to ask
his advice regarding the complicated case
OF Lady Twickenham. The history OF 1t and
the directions he gave lie can serve no pur-
pose II written here, therefore sufice 1t to
say hat ! remained to dinner and caught
the Q o'clock express back to London.
While at dinner, a meal served in that
severe style which characterized the austere
old mans daily life, I commenced to talk
OF the antics OF insane persons and their
extraordinary antipathies, but quickly dis
cerned that he had neither intention nor
desire to speak OF them. He replied in
those snappy monosyllables which told me
plainly that the subject was distasteful to
him and when l babe him goodby and drove
TO the station 1 was more puzzled than
ever by his strange behavior. He was
eccentric, 1t was true, but I knew all his
little odd ways resulting from the eccentric
ity of genius and could plainly see that his
recent indlsposition, which had prevented
him from attending at Harley street, was
due rather TO nerves than to a chill.
The trains from Brighton to London on
Sunday evenings are always crowded
mainly by business people compelled to re-
turn to town in readiness for the toll OF
the coming week. Weekend trippers and
day excursionists fill the compartments to
overlooking. whether 1t be chilly spring or
blazing summer. for Brighton is ever
popular with the jaded Londoner who is
enabled to run down" without fatigue and
get a cheap health-g giving sea breeze for a
lew hours after the busy turmoil OF the
metropolis.
On this Sunday night 1t was no excep-
tion. The hrst-class compartment was
crowded, mostly, be it said, by third-class
passengers who had tipped the guard,
and when he had started l noticed in the
far corner opposite me a pale-faced young
girl Of about 20 or so, plainly dressed in
shabby black. She was evidently a third
class passenger, and the guard, taking
compassion upon her fragile form in the
mad rush for seats, had put her into our
carriage. She was not good-looking in
deed. rather plain, her countenance wearing
a sad, preoccupied expression as she leaned
her chin upon her hand and gazed out
upon the lights of the Town we were leav-
ing.
l noticed that her chest rose and fell in
a deep long-drawn sigh and that she wore
black cotton gloves, one finger OF which
was worn through. Yes. she was the pic
ture OF poor respectability.
The other passengers, two OF whom were
probably city clerks with their loves, re-
garded her with some surprise that she
should be a irst-class passenger, and there
seemed an inclination on the part OF the
loudly-dressed females to regard her with
contempt.
Presently, when we had left the sea and
were speeding through the open country,
she turned her sad face from the window
and examined her fellow passengers, one
after the other. until OF a sudden her eyes
met mine, In an instant she dropped
them modestly and busled herself in the
pages Of the s penny print of a popular
novel which she carried with her.
In that moment, however, somehow
entertained a belief that we had met be-
fore. Under what circumstances. or where.
I could not recolleot. The wistfulness OF
the white face. the slight hollowness Of the
cheeks. the unnaturally dark eyes. all
NhAN AuhuAAAa nv 1NNt alNnpAkh "
half an hour l strove to bring back to my
MIND where l had seen her. II was to no
purpose. In all probability I had attended
her at Guys. A doctor in a big London
hospital sees so many faces that TO reeol-
lect all is utterly impossible. Many a
time / have been accosted and thanked by
people whom ! have no recollection OF
ever having seen In my life. Men do not
realize that they look differently when lying
I'm bed with a fortnights growth OF beard
10 when shaver and spruce. as their ordi-
nary habit, while women, when smartly
dressed with fashionable hats and 1lmsy
wells. are very different to when In illness
they lie. with hair unbound. faces pinehed
and eyes sunken, which is the only recol-
lection their doctor has OF them. The
duchess and the servant girl present very
similar figures when lying on a sick bed in
critical condition.
There was an element OF romantic mys.
terry in that fragile little figure huddled M
In the far corner OF the carriage. Once oil
twice when she believed my gaze 70 b,
averted she raised her eyes f~urtively al
though to reassure herself Of my identity
and In her restless manner ! discerned
desire to speak with me. 1t was yerl
wpohahfa that aha waa aorna uonr afrl NJ