The Mystery of Cloomber

rue that the doctor was only once within the walls of Cloomber during its tenancy by General Heatherstone, but there were some circumstances connec

practice to jot down his recollections, and I feel that I

hich I have formed for that gentleman ever since his residence at Branksome, but also because it is my conviction that the facts in the case of Genera

. Heatherstone, of Cloomber Hall, desiring me to make a professional call upon her h

hich they lived, so that I was very much pleased at this opportunity of maki

original proprietor, and I was astonished on arriving at t

d a high wooden fence, with nails upon the top, encircled the whole grounds. The drive itself

here sat an elderly, careworn lady, who introduced herself as Mrs. Heatherstone. With her pale face, her grey hair

e. We came to this part of the country in the hope that the bracing air and the quiet would have a good effect upon him. Instead of improving, however, he has seemed to grow weaker, and this morn

to the chamber of the sick man, which was s

hair, and a plain deal table, on which were scattered numerous papers and books. In the centre of thi

n the British Army, while among the others were scimitars, tulwars, cuchurries, and a score of other specimens of Oriental workmanship. Many of these were richly mounted, with

collection, since the general himself lay upon the

d apparently unconscious of our presence. His bright, staring eyes and the

rang up into the sitting position and struck at me frenziedly with his clenched hands. I have never seen such

your hands off me! Is it not enough that my life has been

r cool hand over his heated forehead. "This is Doctor Easterling,

ld see by the changed expression of his face that his delir

120 per minute, and his temperature proved to be 104 degrees. Clearly it was a case of remi

ttle quinine and arsenic we shall very soon

I am as hard to kill as the Wandering Jew. I am quite clear

s I thought-and I sat down by the bedside to listen t

, and Brodie, the staff-surgeon, said that it was ten to one that it would carry me off. I have not

o tell you that the abscess has either been entirely absorbed, or has turned calcareo

no means overjoyed

, now." He bared his chest and showed me a puckered wound over the region of the heart. "That's where the jezail bullet of a Hillman went in. You would think that was in the right spot to settle

n under a lucky star,"

or me, if it will but come in some familiar form, but I confess that the anticipatio

his remark, "that you would prefer a

o familiar with cold steel and lead to be afraid of ei

were any signs of his delirium returning. His expression was inte

nt powers of the human spirit your best men are centuries behind the humblest coolies of India. Countless generations of beef-eating, comfort loving ancestors have given our animal instincts the command over our spiritual ones. The body, w

efit from this peculiarity in their or

w plants a mango seed, and makes passes over it until it sprouts and bears leaves and fruit-all in the space of half-an-hour. It is not really a trick-it is a power. These men know more than your Tyndalls or Huxleys do about Nature's processes, and they can accelerate

were well acquainted

you ought to know something of it, for it has a great future before it in your profession. You should read Reichenbach's 'Researches on Magnetism and Vital Force,' and Grego

n, so I made no comment, but rose to take my departure. Before doing so I felt his pulse once more, and found that the

and at the same time to pick my gloves from the table, with the result that I raised not only

utter an impatient exclamation. I at once turned, and replaced the cloth so promptly that I should have be

accidental the incident was. "There is no reason why you should not see it," an

n admirably executed model of a lofty range of mountains, whose snow

cellent model. This ground has a special interest for me, because it is the scene of my first campaign. There is the pass opposite Kalabagh and the Thul

een marked on one side of the pass which he had pointed out

swered, leaning forward and looking a

At the same instant there came, apparently from the air immediately above his bed, a sharp, ringing, tinkling sound, which I can only compare with the noise made by a

re it could have come from, but without perce

mile. "It's only my private gong. Perhaps you had better st

departure, though I would gladly have stayed a little longer, in the

ife and his present circumstances. I was destined, however, to be disappointed, for I received that very evening a note from the general himself, enclosing a handsome fee

munication which I ever receiv

er he gave me the impression of insanity. To this I must unhesitatingly answer in the negativ

arcus senilis well marked, and his arteries atheromatous-all signs that his constitut