Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-29
THEHOUSE OBEDIENCE
BY EDWARD F. BENSON
ns b. e F Benson
BY EDWARD F. BENSON.

wanting the drug most awfully now. All,
help me-" he added with sudden wall of
appeal, "for 1 know what shall do when
you gone
Yes. tell me that" said Cochran.
well, 1 shall go and see where Maud is,
and If she is downstairs l shall tell her that
l can get away by myself. She trusts me,
l think, STILL after all that has happened.
Then l shall go to my room and forge
yes, forge-a prescription. Then 1 shall
horse to go down to Port Washington and
say that 1T must be made up for Lord
Thurso. And l shall sit gnawing my nails
till he comes back"
Cochran nodded at him.
We'll, you're making an excellent start"
he said because you are telling me all.
But you know you are just as wrong about
what you say you will do as you were
You won't do anything of the kind"
"Ah, surely this Is suggestion, hypnotic
treatment" said Thurso.
Walter Cochran gave one little click Of
Impotence; then that passed
I'm almost getting fatigued with hearing
people say that" he said. It's you who
have been suggesting things to yourself and
imagining them with remarkable vividness.
You've got to reverse all that; you've got to
say to yourself now, will do none OF
| those things I want to get your will on the
right side. So now plan another evening for
yourself Come, what would be pleasant?
| you to go to bed before eleven"
| "Why?" asked Thurso.
Because I shall be treating you by
| then" said he land 1 find it's an excellent
| reposing or asleep. They themselves, of
course, their souls, are never asleep, and 1
guess it's because the body is lying quiet
and not suggesting distractions"
| But Maud tried to treat me once on the
| steamer" said Thurso, and the effect was
that I couldn't get to sleep at all. thought
! she was in the room"
| Although he had said just now that the
| treatment did not interest him, he was talk
ing with genuine interest. There was some
| thing attractive about this big, strong
young man, who looked SO awfully well and
sane. and seemed to diffuse sanity and
| health. Yet on this one subject, how fan
| tastically his mind framed itself, and withal
how simple and unfantastic he seemed to
| think it.
why. that was real good of Lady Maud.
wasn't it?" he said. And that feeling of
| yours that she was in the room was very
| likely to happen. III tell you why-like
simple. The practitioner ought quite to sink
himself; he shouldn't be conscious Of HIM
self at all. He mustn't think that he is con-
trolling the working Of the power of divine
only comes with practice. At first the
healer finds that his personality obtrudes
itself"
Quite unconsciously Thurso began to be
the first time the craving for the drug
which had reached an acute point began Of
its own accord to grow less keen. The very
simplicity of the thing, If only he could be-
lieve 1t was true, struck him.
Then why can't you heal me instantly"
he asked. IF error cannot exist in the pres
ence Of divine love, how is 1t that time is
required for its destruction?
"Ah, you must lose your belief In the re-
ality of error before it can become COM
pletely unreal to you," said he; and your
belief, I expect. goes deep, doesn't 1t? Get
Lady Maud to read to you out of the book
she is studying. That will really be better
for you than writing prescriptions. won't
it? But now I must go: though there's no
such thing as time really. it Is still possible
to miss train
Though there are no such things as
trains?" asked Thurso.
Yes, but the false claim of a train Is very
hard to uproot," said Cochran, laughing
Its better to go in them. and save your
energy for the destruction OF other and
worse claims
Thurso lay back in his big chair after
Cochran had gone. conscious that some
thing else than laudanum had begun to in
terest him little He felt tendency
whatever or leaning towards Christian Sci
ence, but he wanted to find some weak
spot in the theory. some fatal inconsistency.
which must invalidate 1t altogether. There
must be one. even in the little he had al