The Blue Wall

ehind th

he wall against which my glass case of instruments rests, symbolizes the boundary of knowledge-seemingly an opaque barrier. I am called a man of science, a man with a passion for accuracies.

human beings beyond this boundary. We think it is opaque, impassable. I am

They are fresh enough in my memory. All seasons are swift when a man slips into age and it was only four short years ago that this h

s, and Marbury was one of those who begged me to come in at the emergency. It was meningitis and it is out of my line. Perhaps the Marbury wealth influenced me; perhaps it was because the banker-of course I am not using the real names-went down on his knees on this very rug which is un

different architect-a sort of display of individuality and affluence squeezed together like fancy crackers packed in a box. My machine used to wait for me by the

eyes of profound depth, the length of the black lashes lying upon a cheek of marvelous whiteness, the delicate lines of the little body which delight the true artist, the curve of the sensitive lips, the patient calm of personality suggesting a familiarity with other worlds and with eternity, makes a strong i

s notes on the case under the lamp, and then having crossed the blue-and-gold room to the other

th. I knew her history. I knew how her feet had moved-it always seems to me so futilely-through miles and miles and miles of dance on polished floors and her mouth in millions of false smiles. She had been débutante, belle, coquette, old

eath is unthinkable, that a woman has concentrated all her love on one being. It is not the appeal of a man

t case-put strength into it-

d up at the nurse to be sure of her character. Perhaps I should say that I found her to be a thin-lipped person not over thirty, with long, square-tipped fingers, eyes as cold

e of the nurse there was an intermittent coma. For hours little Virginia would lie unconscious, and restless, suffering failing strength and a slow retraction of the head and neck, or on other occasions she would rest in absolute peace, so that the disease, which depends so much upon strength, would later show improvement.

to me. It was scrawled hastily in the characteristic nervous hand,-a communication

t keeps her alive? What is

e wall?" I said to myself. "

n at the end a sane and eminent doctor had writt

led to that grim m

it sat upon a countenance habitually blank. She did not answer. She pointed. I looked up. And then I knew that the wall in question was that blank expanse of pal

e," said I uneasily. "What

rs. "Nothing. I refuse to

d Dr. MacMeche

There is no sense in it. She believes some one is there. She has tried to explain. She puts her hands upon that sur

d, too, eh? Well, how does it sh

re is an effect upon her. She can foretell the condition of her disease. She seems conscious that her life

s a pretty pass when sane medical m

ing me sharply. "See! Now th

k as if she was undergoing the first rippling torsions of a convulsion. Her face was drawn into such an expression as one might imagine would appear on the face of an angel in agony, and then, gradually, as some renewed circulation

des, I have promised none but the cold-blooded facts and I need only assert that the little girl looked, moved her lips, stretched her arms, and then suddenly, as if she had sensed some agony, some fearful turbulence, she cried out softly, her face grew white, her upper lip trembled, she fell back, if one may so speak of an inch of movement, and lay panti

d measures as with illusive inaccuracies. To be exact is to be a failure. To reject the unknown is to remain a poor doctor, indeed. The issue in this case was defined. Either the congestion of the membranes in the spinal cord was producing a persistent hallucination or else there was, in fact, something going on behind that wall. Either an influence was a

sure that no madness was in them. You, too, would have said that, awakened from the intermittent co

ed her?" I inquir

arms, at the same time

id as if she

"I am the new doctor," I

ou, no monster could have

whispered, pointing

ess of innocence; her feeble hand moved in mine as a li

s there," sh

ha

k her he

instructions; then, perhaps not wholly at peace with myself, I crept softly down the stairs. I did not wish an interview wit

his-a mask through which, in that moment, the warmth of suffering and love seemed strugglin

ated his

d him; "a question of mental state, a question of t

at it without knowing what he d

d I, "who lives n

ered. "Why, th

rge f

em very little. His father has never forgiven my objection to his membership on a certain directorate in 1890. T

f them. Are they happy? Is there anything to lead

as if he believed me insane

onservative life well intrenched as to money, the husband a partner and heir-apparent to an important law practice, th

r servants are

way just now. I think I he

he chance of any extraordinary a

ystery?" he as

voice now; I can see the tapestry tha

, without answering

moment to look up at

d see that, perhaps of all in the block, the Estabrooks' was the plainest, the most modest, with its sobriety of architecture and simplicity, and on the whole the most respectable of all. It seemed to insure tranquillit

aw two hands rest for a moment on the sill, some small object was dropped into the grass below, and my ears

at the whole idea. And to rebuke me the house, as if it were itself a personality, had for a fleeting second disclosed the presence of some hidden secret. The window was closed, and then I stood upon the deserted thoroughfare, the hum of my fretting limousine behind me, staring up at the moonlit front o

slap of it on the window makes one feel the

ibe the irritation of being unable to act in cases like Virginia's-cases where the fight is made between strength of body and mind, on the one hand, and some deep-seated infection, like meningitis, on the other. I was more than anxious for the

of a red granite Rameses from the Nile, looking out the window at the waving treetops of the park and the clouds of falling leaves which were being dr

eness. "Mrs. Marbury is glad that you have not suggested a hospital, and desired me t

all?"

led ins

nterested?

led, I

s been talking to it,-whatever is behind there,-and

t the light; under its yellow rays lay the girl Virginia, her long lashes fringing her translucent eyeli

ve her the greatest anxiety. She even spoke to me twice. She pointed. She said, 'It is bad! It is bad!' with great vehemence

k and moist, the spasmodic nerve reaction and muscular twitching had almost ceased. I felt that exultation which comes when instinct as much as specific observation assures me that the tide has turned, that the arrow of fate has swung about, and the odds have changed. Strange as it may seem to many persons, these turns are fel

n answer to my unspoken question, was the sound which at

approach of your father by the sound of his walk? Yes. But can you tell how? Are you able to say what it is that distinguishes it f

as to be hardly heard, and yet I knew, as well as if the partition h

luntary exclamation from me as the jar of forceps draws a tooth.

finity-I must so describe it-infinity; then, as

see?" I asked

made a little gesture as if to say that s

ked, indicating the

ce of mysterious blue. T

ncy which had possessed prosaic MacMechem, the unimaginative Miss Peters, and, finally, myself. It seemed to justify positive steps in an investigation; after a further examination of t