Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1922-09-27
TODAY'S INSTALMENT.

TODAY'S INSTALMENT.
Mr.. Trevalyan went on with his
story:
Some weeks ago Mr.. Blessington
came down to me in, as it seemed to
me, q state of considerable agitation.
He spoke of some burglary which, he
said, had been comitted in the West
End, and he appeared, l remember, to
be quite unnecessarily excited about it,
declaring that a day should not pass
before we should add stronger bolts to
our windows and doors. For week
he continued to be in a peculiar state
of restlessness, peering continually out
of the windows, and ceasing to take the
short walk which had usually been the
prelude to his dinner. From his man.
ner it struck me that he was in mortal
dread of something or somebody, but
when questioned him upon the point
he became so offensive that l was COM
PEELED to drop the subject. Gradually,
as time passed, bis fears appeared to
die away. and he had renewed his for
mer habits, when fresh event reduced
him to the pitiable state OF prostration
in which he now lies.
What happened was this: Two days
ago / received the letter which now
read to you. Neither address nor date
is attached to it.
"'A Russian nobleman who is now
resi- dent in England it runs, would
he glad to avail himself of the profess
sional assistance of DR.. Percy Trevel-
van. He has been for some years a
victim of cataleptic attacks, on which,
as is we'll known, DR.. Trevelyan is an
authority. He proposes to call at
about q quarter past six tomorrow even
ing, if Dr.. Trevelyan will make it con-
venient to be at home"
This letter interested me deeply
because the chief difficulty in the study
of catalepsy is the rarenesss of the dis
ease. You may believe, thaen, that l
was in my consulting room when. at
the appointed hour, the page showed in
the patient.
He was an elderly man, thin, de-
mure, and common-place-by no means
the conception one forms of Russian
nobleman. l was much more struck by
the appearance of his companion. This
was tall young man, surprisingly
handsome, with dark, fierce face, and
the limbs and chest of 3 Hercules. He
had his hand under the others arm
as they entered, and helped him to q
chair with a tenderness which one
would hardly have expected from his
appearance.
"'You will excuse my coming in,
DOCTOR said he to me, speaking English
with slight lisp. This is my father
and his health is mattel of the most
overwhelming importance to me-
Ax,-< 1,ot rafx
You would, perhaps, care to remain
during the consultation?' said !. -,
"'Not for the world he cried, with
. gesture of horror. 1t is more painful
TO me than can express. If l were te
see my father in one of these dreadful
seizures l am convinced that l should
never survive it. Ny own nervous sys
tenn is an exceptionally sensitive one
With your permission, / will remain IL
the waiting-room while you 60 into N,
fathers case
ITO this, of course, l assented, ane
the young man withdrew. The patient
and / then plunged into a discussion o
his case, of which / took exhaustive,
notes He was not remarkable for In
teihgence, and his answers were fre
quently obscure, which ! attributed tc
his limited acquaintance with our Ian
guage. Suddenly, however, as l sa
writing, he ceased to give any answe
at all to my inquiries and on my turn
ing toward him l was shocked to sc,
that he was sitting bolt upright in hi
chair, staring at me with perfectl,
blank and rigid face. He was again il
the grip of his mysterious. malady.
''My first feeling as l have jus
said, was one of pity and horror. NJ,
second, fear, was rather one of pro
fessional satisfaction. ! made note
of my patients pulse and temperature
tested the rigidity of his muscles, ant
examined his rehexes. There was moth
ing markedly abnormal in any of thes.
conditions, which harmonized with m,
former experiences. / had obtained
good results in such cases by the in
halation of nitrite of amyl, and th,
present seemed an admirable oppor
1unity Of testing its virtues. The bottl
was downstairs in my laboratory, s,
leaving my patient seated in his chair
i ran down to get it. There was SOM
little delay in finding it-fve minute
let US say-and then / returned. I'm