Our bodies are only an instrument clever
By which the soul works out a phase of existence—
Each member responds when the soul moves the lever
Unless overcome by abnormal resistance.
Ever since the morning that Lady Van Tyne confided her belief in Maurice Sinclair's Satanic individuality to her family physician, the remorseful Dr. Seward was imbued with an undying curiosity to learn more of this human phenomenon. But the abduction of Stella, coming so suddenly upon them, made it almost impossible to indulge his interest in that direction.
Naturally he would not care to mention the subject to the grief tortured mother, and as to Lady Van Tyne, her excitement rendered her totally incoherent whenever the subject was[Pg 134] broached. Another reason for sensitiveness on the part of Dr. Seward, when in the presence of Mrs. Sinclair, may have lain in the knowledge of his guilty secret, the unburdening of which, would have been to press the dregs of shame to Lady Van Tyne's lips and pierce the devoted mourner of Archibald Sinclair where her love and faith were tenderest. Thus it was not until after the restoration of Stella to her foster mother's arms that the impatient physician learned ought of the young man in whom he had taken so unaccountable an interest.
It was now some time after Stella's recovery and Dr. Seward was sitting, for a brief social call, with Mrs. Sinclair in her pleasant parlor. Dr. Seward had been a faithful friend for years and now that her darling was safe, Mrs. Sinclair told him freely of Stella's unfortunate experience and of the information which she received of her son during her brief call upon Elizabeth Merril's grandparents.
The old physician was deeply interested in the narrative and made occasional notes on one of his visiting cards in reference to the matter. The[Pg 135] names of Lawrence Maynard and Elizabeth Merril were heavily underscored and the card placed carefully in his pocket.
The doctor laid great weight upon the absence of intuitive, motherly affection in Mrs. Sinclair's case at her son's appearance when she had clearly explained her feelings to her old adviser, but she only saw in his rigid cross questioning the life long habit of scientific analysis and gave little thought to the problem which the physician was trying, in his clever brain, to solve. More interested than he cared to admit, Dr. Seward only waited a few days before going to G—— St., as had Mrs. Sinclair before him.
The aged couple, burdened with sorrow, were only waiting the hour when, hand in hand, they should enter the dark valley of the shadow of death, even as they had walked through the many checkered paths of a life of nearly four score years.
Perhaps it was a mercy that their trusting hearts were spared the actual knowledge of Elizabeth's fate, as the sweet memory of her childhood and girlish days was always a solace even in their moments of grief. Could they have seen her at[Pg 136] any time during the year that had now elapsed since her disappearance, the misery and squalor of her surroundings and the shame of her one error, would have occasioned their virtuous souls far more anguish than the awful death which they supposed to have been her fate. Calmly, and with unvarying precision, the white haired woman related to Dr. Seward the only crumbs of information it had been her lot to gain, and from another room she brought a small, oddly shaped vial, containing a dark brown powder, which she said she had found in his apartments when her eccentric, young lodger had left.
The vial was without a label and heedful of Mr. Maynard's frequent warnings the cork had never been removed.
It took but a glance to show Dr. Seward that it was an exact counterpart of the one found in Stella's room the morning after her abduction, and placing it carefully in his pocket he took kindly leave of the aged people, and not wholly dissatisfied with his morning's work, returned speedily to his private office. It was about three in the afternoon when he seated himself in his easy chair, and[Pg 137] adjusting his glasses prepared to examine, from a purely analytical standpoint, the brownish powder contained in the little vial. He held it to the light, but it was opaque, dull and uninteresting. He shook it, but the agitated particles fell back as indifferently as possible to their original positions. Then, true to his vocation, he removed the stopper gingerly between his first and middle fingers and raised the vial cautiously to a respectful distance from his nose. The first sniff was entirely non-committal. The next was a little stronger effort and he thought he detected a faint, sickish odor.
Shaking the bottle again gently, he drew it nearer and took a bold inspiration immediately over its contents. Almost instantly his hand fell to his side; the vial fell upon the heavy carpet, spilling most of its contents, and these, as they came in contact with the air, ignited and burnt, while the sickening, penetrating fumes arose like incense and completely filled the spacious apartment. For one hour by the clock he sat there, motionless as death, but fully cognizant of all that passed about him. He longed, with true scientific fervor, to rescue the vial with its remaining contents, but his members were benumbed and motionless. He heard the signs of life in and about the house, but was powerless to raise his voice. He even fancied, in his speculative manner, that he was experiencing the sensations of a disembodied soul after the resurrection, and his scepticism regarding spiritualism and theosophy, was shaken to its very foundation.
There was no terror in the situation and almost from force of long trained habit, he noted every symptom of his condition with great precision and detail. He saw the hands move slowly on the clock before him, and felt the draught from a half closed door blowing softly upon his back. This trifling matter amused him, coming to his mind, as it did, in the midst of grave, spiritualistic meditations, and the mental smile which accompanied the amusement was another proof of the absolute uselessness of the fleshy body for all demonstrations of like nature.
It seemed strange to him that he had never before realized how useless an encumbrance the body was, after all. He could see, hear, smell and think, and his mind conveyed him wheresoever he willed, so that really only the power of speech was denied him. Suddenly it occurred to him that speech also was possible, but it must necessarily be a communion of similar disembodied souls rather than intercourse with ordinary mortals, and while he was longing with all the zeal of his investigatory nature for an opportunity to test his mental vocabulary, a tingling sensation began in his extremities and passed, almost like an electric current, through all his members. His living death was ended, and concentrating all his energies, he staggered from the chair.
The fumes from the burning powder were now exhausted, and bending unsteadily, he secured the half emptied vial and corking it firmly, concealed it once more in his pocket.
Then touching an electric bell, he sent a peal vibrating through the house, and a moment later, when the frightened assistant hurriedly entered, it was only to find the good physician stretched in apparently dreamless slumber upon the office sofa.