الفصل الفصل 8 · The Beetle-Hunter

. The Beetle-Hunter

A curious experience? said the Doctor. Yes, my friends, I have had one

very curious experience. I never expect to have another, for it is

against all doctrines of chances that two such events would befall any

one man in a single lifetime. You may believe me or not, but the thing

happened exactly as I tell it.

I had just become a medical man, but I had not started in practice, and

I lived in rooms in Gower Street. The street has been renumbered since

then, but it was in the only house which has a bow-window, upon the

left-hand side as you go down from the Metropolitan Station. A widow

named Murchison kept the house at that time, and she had three medical

students and one engineer as lodgers. I occupied the top room, which

was the cheapest, but cheap as it was it was more than I could afford.

My small resources were dwindling away, and every week it became more

necessary that I should find something to do. Yet I was very unwilling

to go into general practice, for my tastes were all in the direction of

science, and especially of zoology, towards which I had always a strong

leaning. I had almost given the fight up and resigned myself to being

a medical drudge for life, when the turning-point of my struggles came

in a very extraordinary way.

One morning I had picked up the Standard and was glancing over its

contents. There was a complete absence of news, and I was about to

toss the paper down again, when my eyes were caught by an advertisement

at the head of the personal column. It was worded in this way:

"Wanted for one or more days the services of a medical man. It is

essential that he should be a man of strong physique, of steady nerves,

and of a resolute nature. Must be an entomologist--coleopterist

preferred. Apply, in person, at 77B, Brook Street. Application must be

made before twelve o'clock today."

Now, I have already said that I was devoted to zoology. Of all

branches of zoology, the study of insects was the most attractive to

me, and of all insects beetles were the species with which I was most

familiar. Butterfly collectors are numerous, but beetles are far more

varied, and more accessible in these islands than are butterflies. It

was this fact which had attracted my attention to them, and I had

myself made a collection which numbered some hundred varieties. As to

the other requisites of the advertisement, I knew that my nerves could

be depended upon, and I had won the weight-throwing competition at the

inter-hospital sports. Clearly, I was the very man for the vacancy.

Within five minutes of my having read the advertisement I was in a cab

and on my was to Brook Street.

As I drove, I kept turning the matter over in my head and trying to

make a guess as to what sort of employment it could be which needed

such curious qualifications. A strong physique, a resolute nature, a

medical training, and a knowledge of beetles--what connection could

there be between these various requisites? And then there was the

disheartening fact that the situation was not a permanent one, but

terminable from day to day, according to the terms of the

advertisement. The more I pondered over it the more unintelligible did

it become; but at the end of my meditations I always came back to the

ground fact that, come what might, I had nothing to lose, that I was

completely at the end of my resources, and that I was ready for any

adventure, however desperate, which would put a few honest sovereigns

into my pocket. The man fears to fail who has to pay for his failure,

but there was no penalty which Fortune could exact from me. I was like

the gambler with empty pockets, who is still allowed to try his luck

with the others.

No. 77B, Brook Street, was one of those dingy and yet imposing houses,

dun-coloured and flat-faced, with the intensely respectable and solid

air which marks the Georgian builder. As I alighted from the cab, a

young man came out of the door and walked swiftly down the street. In

passing me, I noticed that he cast an inquisitive and somewhat

malevolent glance at me, and I took the incident as a good omen, for

his appearance was that of a rejected candidate, and if he resented my

application it meant that the vacancy was not yet filled up. Full of

hope, I ascended the broad steps and rapped with the heavy knocker.

A footman in powder and livery opened the door. Clearly I was in touch

with the people of wealth and fashion.

"Yes, sir?" said the footman.

"I came in answer to----"

"Quite so, sir," said the footman. "Lord Linchmere will see you at

once in the library."

Lord Linchmere! I had vaguely heard the name, but could not for the

instant recall anything about him. Following the footman, I was shown

into a large, book-lined room in which there was seated behind a

writing-desk a small man with a pleasant, clean-shaven, mobile face,

and long hair shot with grey, brushed back from his forehead. He

looked me up and down with a very shrewd, penetrating glance, holding

the card which the footman had given him in his right hand. Then he

smiled pleasantly, and I felt that externally at any rate I possessed

the qualifications which he desired.

"You have come in answer to my advertisement, Dr. Hamilton?" he asked.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you fulfil the conditions which are there laid down?"

"I believe that I do."

"You are a powerful man, or so I should judge from your appearance.

"I think that I am fairly strong."

"And resolute?"

"I believe so."

"Have you ever known what it was to be exposed to imminent danger?"

"No, I don't know that I ever have."

"But you think you would be prompt and cool at such a time?"

"I hope so."

"Well, I believe that you would. I have the more confidence in you

because you do not pretend to be certain as to what you would do in a

position that was new to you. My impression is that, so far as

personal qualities go, you are the very man of whom I am in search.

That being settled, we may pass on to the next point."

"Which is?"

"To talk to me about beetles."

I looked across to see if he was joking, but, on the contrary, he was

leaning eagerly forward across his desk, and there was an expression of

something like anxiety in his eyes.

"I am afraid that you do not know about beetles," he cried.

"On the contrary, sir, it is the one scientific subject about which I

feel that I really do know something."

"I am overjoyed to hear it. Please talk to me about beetles."

I talked. I do not profess to have said anything original upon the

subject, but I gave a short sketch of the characteristics of the

beetle, and ran over the more common species, with some allusions to

the specimens in my own little collection and to the article upon

"Burying Beetles" which I had contributed to the Journal of

Entomological Science.

"What! not a collector?" cried Lord Linchmere. "You don't mean that

you are yourself a collector?" His eyes danced with pleasure at the

thought.

"You are certainly the very man in London for my purpose. I thought

that among five millions of people there must be such a man, but the

difficulty is to lay one's hands upon him. I have been extraordinarily

fortunate in finding you."

He rang a gong upon the table, and the footman entered.

"Ask Lady Rossiter to have the goodness to step this way," said his

lordship, and a few moments later the lady was ushered into the room.

She was a small, middle-aged woman, very like Lord Linchmere in

appearance, with the same quick, alert features and grey-black hair.

The expression of anxiety, however, which I had observed upon his face

was very much more marked upon hers. Some great grief seemed to have

cast its shadow over her features. As Lord Linchmere presented me she

turned her face full upon me, and I was shocked to observe a

half-healed scar extending for two inches over her right eyebrow. It

was partly concealed by plaster, but none the less I could see that it

had been a serious wound and not long inflicted.

"Dr. Hamilton is the very man for our purpose, Evelyn," said Lord

Linchmere. "He is actually a collector of beetles, and he has written

articles upon the subject."

"Really!" said Lady Rossiter. "Then you must have heard of my husband.

Everyone who knows anything about beetles must have heard of Sir Thomas

Rossiter."

For the first time a thin little ray of light began to break into the

obscure business. Here, at last, was a connection between these people

and beetles. Sir Thomas Rossiter--he was the greatest authority upon

the subject in the world. He had made it his lifelong study, and had

written a most exhaustive work upon it. I hastened to assure her that

I had read and appreciated it.

"Have you met my husband?" she asked.

"No, I have not."

"But you shall," said Lord Linchmere, with decision.

The lady was standing beside the desk, and she put her hand upon his

shoulder. It was obvious to me as I saw their faces together that they

were brother and sister.

"Are you really prepared for this, Charles? It is noble of you, but

you fill me with fears." Her voice quavered with apprehension, and he

appeared to me to be equally moved, though he was making strong efforts

to conceal his agitation.

"Yes, yes, dear; it is all settled, it is all decided; in fact, there

is no other possible way, that I can see."

"There is one obvious way."

"No, no, Evelyn, I shall never abandon you--never. It will come

right--depend upon it; it will come right, and surely it looks like the

interference of Providence that so perfect an instrument should be put

into our hands."

My position was embarrassing, for I felt that for the instant they had

forgotten my presence. But Lord Linchmere came back suddenly to me and

to my engagement.

"The business for which I want you, Dr. Hamilton, is that you should

put yourself absolutely at my disposal. I wish you to come for a short

journey with me, to remain always at my side, and to promise to do

without question whatever I may ask you, however unreasonable it may

appear to you to be."

"That is a good deal to ask," said I.

"Unfortunately I cannot put it more plainly, for I do not myself know

what turn matters may take. You may be sure, however, that you will

not be asked to do anything which your conscience does not approve; and

I promise you that, when all is over, you will be proud to have been

concerned in so good a work."

"If it ends happily," said the lady.

"Exactly; if it ends happily," his lordship repeated.

"And terms?" I asked.

"Twenty pounds a day."

I was amazed at the sum, and must have showed my surprise upon my

features.

"It is a rare combination of qualities, as must have struck you when

you first read the advertisement," said Lord Linchmere; "such varied

gifts may well command a high return, and I do not conceal from you

that your duties might be arduous or even dangerous. Besides, it is

possible that one or two days may bring the matter to an end."

"Please God!" sighed his sister.

"So now, Dr. Hamilton, may I rely upon your aid?"

"Most undoubtedly," said I. "You have only to tell me what my duties

are."

"Your first duty will be to return to your home. You will pack up

whatever you may need for a short visit to the country. We start

together from Paddington Station at 3:40 this afternoon."

"Do we go far?"

"As far as Pangbourne. Meet me at the bookstall at 3:30. I shall have

the tickets. Goodbye, Dr. Hamilton! And, by the way, there are two

things which I should be very glad if you would bring with you, in case

you have them. One is your case for collecting beetles, and the other

is a stick, and the thicker and heavier the better."

You may imagine that I had plenty to think of from the time that I left

Brook Street until I set out to meet Lord Linchmere at Paddington. The

whole fantastic business kept arranging and rearranging itself in

kaleidoscopic forms inside my brain, until I had thought out a dozen

explanations, each of them more grotesquely improbable than the last.

And yet I felt that the truth must be something grotesquely improbable

also. At last I gave up all attempts at finding a solution, and

contented myself with exactly carrying out the instructions which I had

received. With a hand valise, specimen-case, and a loaded cane, I was

waiting at the Paddington bookstall when Lord Linchmere arrived. He

was an even smaller man than I had thought--frail and peaky, with a

manner which was more nervous than it had been in the morning. He wore

a long, thick travelling ulster, and I observed that he carried a heavy

blackthorn cudgel in his hand.

"I have the tickets," said he, leading the way up the platform.

"This is our train. I have engaged a carriage, for I am particularly

anxious to impress one or two things upon you while we travel down."

And yet all that he had to impress upon me might have been said in a

sentence, for it was that I was to remember that I was there as a

protection to himself, and that I was not on any consideration to leave

him for an instant. This he repeated again and again as our journey

drew to a close, with an insistence which showed that his nerves were

thoroughly shaken.

"Yes," he said at last, in answer to my looks rather than to my words,

"I AM nervous, Dr. Hamilton. I have always been a timid man, and my

timidity depends upon my frail physical health. But my soul is firm,

and I can bring myself up to face a danger which a less-nervous man

might shrink from. What I am doing now is done from no compulsion, but

entirely from a sense of duty, and yet it is, beyond doubt, a desperate

risk. If things should go wrong, I will have some claims to the title

of martyr."

This eternal reading of riddles was too much for me. I felt that I

must put a term to it.

"I think it would very much better, sir, if you were to trust me

entirely," said I. "It is impossible for me to act effectively, when I

do not know what are the objects which we have in view, or even where

we are going."

"Oh, as to where we are going, there need be no mystery about that,"

said he; "we are going to Delamere Court, the residence of Sir Thomas

Rossiter, with whose work you are so conversant. As to the exact

object of our visit, I do not know that at this stage of the

proceedings anything would be gained, Dr. Hamilton, by taking you into

my complete confidence. I may tell you that we are acting--I say 'we,'

because my sister, Lady Rossiter, takes the same view as myself--with

the one object of preventing anything in the nature of a family

scandal. That being so, you can understand that I am loath to give any

explanations which are not absolutely necessary. It would be a

different matter, Dr. Hamilton, if I were asking your advice. As

matters stand, it is only your active help which I need, and I will

indicate to you from time to time how you can best give it."

There was nothing more to be said, and a poor man can put up with a

good deal for twenty pounds a day, but I felt none the less that Lord

Linchmere was acting rather scurvily towards me. He wished to convert

me into a passive tool, like the blackthorn in his hand. With his

sensitive disposition I could imagine, however, that scandal would be

abhorrent to him, and I realized that he would not take me into his

confidence until no other course was open to him. I must trust to my

own eyes and ears to solve the mystery, but I had every confidence that

I should not trust to them in vain.

Delamere Court lies a good five miles from Pangbourne Station, and we

drove for that distance in an open fly. Lord Linchmere sat in deep

thought during the time, and he never opened his mouth until we were

close to our destination. When he did speak it was to give me a piece

of information which surprised me.

"Perhaps you are not aware," said he, "that I am a medical man like

yourself?"

"No, sir, I did not know it."

"Yes, I qualified in my younger days, when there were several lives

between me and the peerage. I have not had occasion to practise, but I

have found it a useful education, all the same. I never regretted the

years which I devoted to medical study. These are the gates of

Delamere Court."

We had come to two high pillars crowned with heraldic monsters which

flanked the opening of a winding avenue. Over the laurel bushes and

rhododendrons, I could see a long, many-gabled mansion, girdled with

ivy, and toned to the warm, cheery, mellow glow of old brick-work. My

eyes were still fixed in admiration upon this delightful house when my

companion plucked nervously at my sleeve.

"Here's Sir Thomas," he whispered. "Please talk beetle all you can."

A tall, thin figure, curiously angular and bony, had emerged through a

gap in the hedge of laurels. In his hand he held a spud, and he wore

gauntleted gardener's gloves. A broad-brimmed, grey hat cast his face

into shadow, but it struck me as exceedingly austere, with an

ill-nourished beard and harsh, irregular features. The fly pulled up

and Lord Linchmere sprang out.

"My dear Thomas, how are you?" said he, heartily.

But the heartiness was by no means reciprocal. The owner of the

grounds glared at me over his brother-in-law's shoulder, and I caught

broken scraps of sentences--"well-known wishes ... hatred of

strangers ... unjustifiable intrusion ... perfectly inexcusable."

Then there was a muttered explanation, and the two of them came over

together to the side of the fly.

"Let me present you to Sir Thomas Rossiter, Dr. Hamilton," said Lord

Linchmere. "You will find that you have a strong community of tastes."

I bowed. Sir Thomas stood very stiffly, looking at me severely from

under the broad brim of his hat.

"Lord Linchmere tells me that you know something about beetles," said

he. "What do you know about beetles?"

"I know what I have learned from your work upon the coleoptera, Sir

Thomas," I answered.

"Give me the names of the better-known species of the British

scarabaei," said he.

I had not expected an examination, but fortunately I was ready for one.

My answers seemed to please him, for his stern features relaxed.

"You appear to have read my book with some profit, sir," said he. "It

is a rare thing for me to meet anyone who takes an intelligent interest

in such matters. People can find time for such trivialities as sport

or society, and yet the beetles are overlooked. I can assure you that

the greater part of the idiots in this part of the country are unaware

that I have ever written a book at all--I, the first man who ever

described the true function of the elytra. I am glad to see you, sir,

and I have no doubt that I can show you some specimens which will

interest you." He stepped into the fly and drove up with us to the

house, expounding to me as we went some recent researches which he had

made into the anatomy of the lady-bird.

I have said that Sir Thomas Rossiter wore a large hat drawn down over

his brows. As he entered the hall he uncovered himself, and I was at

once aware of a singular characteristic which the hat had concealed.

His forehead, which was naturally high, and higher still on account of

receding hair, was in a continual state of movement. Some nervous

weakness kept the muscles in a constant spasm, which sometimes produced

a mere twitching and sometimes a curious rotary movement unlike

anything which I had ever seen before. It was strikingly visible as he

turned towards us after entering the study, and seemed the more

singular from the contrast with the hard, steady, grey eyes which

looked out from underneath those palpitating brows.

"I am sorry," said he, "that Lady Rossiter is not here to help me to

welcome you. By the way, Charles, did Evelyn say anything about the

date of her return?"

"She wished to stay in town for a few more days," said Lord Linchmere.

"You know how ladies' social duties accumulate if they have been for

some time in the country. My sister has many old friends in London at

present."

"Well, she is her own mistress, and I should not wish to alter her

plans, but I shall be glad when I see her again. It is very lonely

here without her company."

"I was afraid that you might find it so, and that was partly why I ran

down. My young friend, Dr. Hamilton, is so much interested in the

subject which you have made your own, that I thought you would not mind

his accompanying me."

"I lead a retired life, Dr. Hamilton, and my aversion to strangers

grows upon me," said our host. "I have sometimes thought that my

nerves are not so good as they were. My travels in search of beetles

in my younger days took me into many malarious and unhealthy places.

But a brother coleopterist like yourself is always a welcome guest, and

I shall be delighted if you will look over my collection, which I think

that I may without exaggeration describe as the best in Europe."

And so no doubt it was. He had a huge, oaken cabinet arranged in

shallow drawers, and here, neatly ticketed and classified, were beetles

from every corner of the earth, black, brown, blue, green, and mottled.

Every now and then as he swept his hand over the lines and lines of

impaled insects he would catch up some rare specimen, and, handling it

with as much delicacy and reverence as if it were a precious relic, he

would hold forth upon its peculiarities and the circumstances under

which it came into his possession. It was evidently an unusual thing

for him to meet with a sympathetic listener, and he talked and talked

until the spring evening had deepened into night, and the gong

announced that it was time to dress for dinner. All the time Lord

Linchmere said nothing, but he stood at his brother-in-law's elbow, and

I caught him continually shooting curious little, questioning glances

into his face. And his own features expressed some strong emotion,

apprehension, sympathy, expectation: I seemed to read them all. I was

sure that Lord Linchmere was fearing something and awaiting something,

but what that something might be I could not imagine.

The evening passed quietly but pleasantly, and I should have been

entirely at my ease if it had not been for that continual sense of

tension upon the part of Lord Linchmere. As to our host, I found that

he improved upon acquaintance. He spoke constantly with affection of

his absent wife, and also of his little son, who had recently been sent

to school. The house, he said, was not the same without them. If it

were not for his scientific studies, he did not know how he could get

through the days. After dinner we smoked for some time in the

billiard-room, and finally went early to bed.

And then it was that, for the first time, the suspicion that Lord

Linchmere was a lunatic crossed my mind. He followed me into my

bedroom, when our host had retired.

"Doctor," said he, speaking in a low, hurried voice, "you must come

with me. You must spend the night in my bedroom."

"What do you mean?"

"I prefer not to explain. But this is part of your duties. My room is

close by, and you can return to your own before the servant calls you

in the morning."

"But why?" I asked.

"Because I am nervous of being alone," said he. "That's the reason,

since you must have a reason."

It seemed rank lunacy, but the argument of those twenty pounds would

overcome many objections. I followed him to his room.

"Well," said I, "there's only room for one in that bed."

"Only one shall occupy it," said he.

"And the other?"

"Must remain on watch."

"Why?" said I. "One would think you expected to be attacked."

"Perhaps I do."

"In that case, why not lock your door?"

"Perhaps I WANT to be attacked."

It looked more and more like lunacy. However, there was nothing for it

but to submit. I shrugged my shoulders and sat down in the arm-chair

beside the empty fireplace.

"I am to remain on watch, then?" said I, ruefully.

"We will divide the night. If you will watch until two, I will watch

the remainder."

"Very good."

"Call me at two o'clock, then."

"I will do so."

"Keep your ears open, and if you hear any sounds wake me

instantly--instantly, you hear?"

"You can rely upon it." I tried to look as solemn as he did.

"And for God's sake don't go to sleep," said he, and so, taking off

only his coat, he threw the coverlet over him and settled down for the

night.

It was a melancholy vigil, and made more so by my own sense of its

folly. Supposing that by any chance Lord Linchmere had cause to

suspect that he was subject to danger in the house of Sir Thomas

Rossiter, why on earth could he not lock his door and so protect

himself? His own answer that he might wish to be attacked was absurd.

Why should he possibly wish to be attacked? And who would wish to

attack him? Clearly, Lord Linchmere was suffering from some singular

delusion, and the result was that on an imbecile pretext I was to be

deprived of my night's rest. Still, however absurd, I was determined

to carry out his injunctions to the letter as long as I was in his

employment. I sat, therefore, beside the empty fireplace, and listened

to a sonorous chiming clock somewhere down the passage which gurgled

and struck every quarter of an hour. It was an endless vigil. Save for

that single clock, an absolute silence reigned throughout the great

house. A small lamp stood on the table at my elbow, throwing a circle

of light round my chair, but leaving the corners of the room draped in

shadow. On the bed Lord Linchmere was breathing peacefully. I envied

him his quiet sleep, and again and again my own eyelids drooped, but

every time my sense of duty came to my help, and I sat up, rubbing my

eyes and pinching myself with a determination to see my irrational

watch to an end.

And I did so. From down the passage came the chimes of two o'clock,

and I laid my hand upon the shoulder of the sleeper. Instantly he was

sitting up, with an expression of the keenest interest upon his face.

"You have heard something?"

"No, sir. It is two o'clock."

"Very good. I will watch. You can go to sleep."

I lay down under the coverlet as he had done and was soon unconscious.

My last recollection was of that circle of lamplight, and of the small,

hunched-up figure and strained, anxious face of Lord Linchmere in the

centre of it.

How long I slept I do not know; but I was suddenly aroused by a sharp

tug at my sleeve. The room was in darkness, but a hot smell of oil

told me that the lamp had only that instant been extinguished.

"Quick! Quick!" said Lord Linchmere's voice in my ear.

I sprang out of bed, he still dragging at my arm.

"Over here!" he whispered, and pulled me into a corner of the room.

"Hush! Listen!"

In the silence of the night I could distinctly hear that someone was

coming down the corridor. It was a stealthy step, faint and

intermittent, as of a man who paused cautiously after every stride.

Sometimes for half a minute there was no sound, and then came the

shuffle and creak which told of a fresh advance. My companion was

trembling with excitement. His hand, which still held my sleeve,

twitched like a branch in the wind.

"What is it?" I whispered.

"It's he!"

"Sir Thomas?"

"Yes."

"What does he want?"

"Hush! Do nothing until I tell you."

I was conscious now that someone was trying the door. There was the

faintest little rattle from the handle, and then I dimly saw a thin

slit of subdued light. There was a lamp burning somewhere far down the

passage, and it just sufficed to make the outside visible from the

darkness of our room. The greyish slit grew broader and broader, very

gradually, very gently, and then outlined against it I saw the dark

figure of a man. He was squat and crouching, with the silhouette of a

bulky and misshapen dwarf. Slowly the door swung open with this ominous

shape framed in the centre of it. And then, in an instant, the

crouching figure shot up, there was a tiger spring across the room and

thud, thud, thud, came three tremendous blows from some heavy object

upon the bed.

I was so paralysed with amazement that I stood motionless and staring

until I was aroused by a yell for help from my companion. The open door

shed enough light for me to see the outline of things, and there was

little Lord Linchmere with his arms round the neck of his

brother-in-law, holding bravely on to him like a game bull-terrier with

its teeth into a gaunt deerhound. The tall, bony man dashed himself

about, writhing round and round to get a grip upon his assailant; but

the other, clutching on from behind, still kept his hold, though his

shrill, frightened cries showed how unequal he felt the contest to be.

I sprang to the rescue, and the two of us managed to throw Sir Thomas

to the ground, though he made his teeth meet in my shoulder. With all

my youth and weight and strength, it was a desperate struggle before we

could master his frenzied struggles; but at last we secured his arms

with the waist-cord of the dressing-gown which he was wearing. I was

holding his legs while Lord Linchmere was endeavouring to relight the

lamp, when there came the pattering of many feet in the passage, and

the butler and two footmen, who had been alarmed by the cries, rushed

into the room. With their aid we had no further difficulty in securing

our prisoner, who lay foaming and glaring upon the ground. One glance

at his face was enough to prove that he was a dangerous maniac, while

the short, heavy hammer which lay beside the bed showed how murderous

had been his intentions.

"Do not use any violence!" said Lord Linchmere, as we raised the

struggling man to his feet. "He will have a period of stupor after

this excitement. I believe that it is coming on already." As he spoke

the convulsions became less violent, and the madman's head fell forward

upon his breast, as if he were overcome by sleep. We led him down the

passage and stretched him upon his own bed, where he lay unconscious,

breathing heavily.

"Two of you will watch him," said Lord Linchmere. "And now, Dr.

Hamilton, if you will return with me to my room, I will give you the

explanation which my horror of scandal has perhaps caused me to delay

too long. Come what may, you will never have cause to regret your

share in this night's work.

"The case may be made clear in a very few words," he continued, when we

were alone. "My poor brother-in-law is one of the best fellows upon

earth, a loving husband and an estimable father, but he comes from a

stock which is deeply tainted with insanity. He has more than once had

homicidal outbreaks, which are the more painful because his inclination

is always to attack the very person to whom he is most attached. His

son was sent away to school to avoid this danger, and then came an

attempt upon my sister, his wife, from which she escaped with injuries

that you may have observed when you met her in London. You understand

that he knows nothing of the matter when he is in his sound senses, and

would ridicule the suggestion that he could under any circumstances

injure those whom he loves so dearly. It is often, as you know, a

characteristic of such maladies that it is absolutely impossible to

convince the man who suffers from them of their existence.

"Our great object was, of course, to get him under restraint before he

could stain his hands with blood, but the matter was full of

difficulty. He is a recluse in his habits, and would not see any

medical man. Besides, it was necessary for our purpose that the

medical man should convince himself of his insanity; and he is sane as

you or I, save on these very rare occasions. But, fortunately, before

he has these attacks he always shows certain premonitory symptoms,

which are providential danger-signals, warning us to be upon our guard.

The chief of these is that nervous contortion of the forehead which you

must have observed. This is a phenomenon which always appears from

three to four days before his attacks of frenzy. The moment it showed

itself his wife came into town on some pretext, and took refuge in my

house in Brook Street.

"It remained for me to convince a medical man of Sir Thomas's insanity,

without which it was impossible to put him where he could do no harm.

The first problem was how to get a medical man into his house. I

bethought me of his interest in beetles, and his love for anyone who

shared his tastes. I advertised, therefore, and was fortunate enough

to find in you the very man I wanted. A stout companion was necessary,

for I knew that the lunacy could only be proved by a murderous assault,

and I had every reason to believe that that assault would be made upon

myself, since he had the warmest regard for me in his moments of

sanity. I think your intelligence will supply all the rest. I did not

know that the attack would come by night, but I thought it very

probable, for the crises of such cases usually do occur in the early

hours of the morning. I am a very nervous man myself, but I saw no

other way in which I could remove this terrible danger from my sister's

life. I need not ask you whether you are willing to sign the lunacy

papers."

"Undoubtedly. But TWO signatures are necessary."

"You forget that I am myself a holder of a medical degree. I have the

papers on a side-table here, so if you will be good enough to sign them

now, we can have the patient removed in the morning."

So that was my visit to Sir Thomas Rossiter, the famous beetle-hunter,

and that was also my first step upon the ladder of success, for Lady

Rossiter and Lord Linchmere have proved to be staunch friends, and they

have never forgotten my association with them in the time of their

need. Sir Thomas is out and said to be cured, but I still think that

if I spent another night at Delamere Court, I should be inclined to

lock my door upon the inside.