THE FAITHFUL MATE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 5373, 12 November 1888, Page 4

THE FAITHFUL MATE.

CHAPTER XVI

AN IDIOI r-LAYS WITH I'IRK !

On reaching the city Arthur reported to Capttiin Walpole, and devoted the remainder of ihe day and half the night to business connected with the ship ar.d her cargo, and by noon on Tuesday he had so far arranged matters that his further services were not required. On that afternoon he visited the mercantile house in which Peter Periot wis interested, and had the good fortune to find there a letter to the firm from Periot's own hand, received that day ; so he was well assured that his father's old friend was alive and well. Early on Wednesday Arthur met Mr Jacobs at a publishing 'house on Cornhill, and rode with him to Cambridge. In an old-time dwelling near to the college, half hidden beneath the foliage of giant elms, they found Doctor Wallcnstock. He was an "elderly man—perhaps sixty—with the lb'ht, silky, golden hair, and ruddy c unpfcxim which give little token of the tracks of advancing years. He was a pleasantfaced man, portly and sanguine, and evidently the possessor of perfect health. At sight of the old clergyman his countenance brightened with warm feeling, aud his greeting was hiaity and robust; and when Arthur had been introduced as a near and dear friend, the same measure of greeting was extended to him. The doctor spoke the English language fluently, with only just tinge enough of his native tongue to give it musical cadence. In tho doctor's large and rarely ornamented library, after a few pleasant passages, Mr Jacobs introduced the business which hud brought him thither. Wallcnstock became interested at onco ; aud when he turned to our hero for further information, his kindness of feeling and his sympathy were so plainly manifest that the youth found no difficulty in telling the story of his mother's misfortune as he understood it; and so clearly did he state it that when he had concluded* the doctor had but. few questions to ask—that is, few questions which it would have been possible tor him to answer.

Arthur watched the physician's face narrowly, but he could see nothing there to satisfy him; and finally he ventured to " Do you think, Doctor, there can beany possible hope of my mother's ever regaining her reason ':"

" My dear sir, you must not ask mv that. Ask me as well if I think she is at this moment alive. 1 have not neti her. But I shall go to New York with you, and if I find her iv physical health, with the general system in a norma! condition, I shall try hard f> help her. Uut you must be aware that insanity like hers, induced ill that turible uia;.n. t, i.s as a rule, beyond the reach of human skill. The mysteries of the cerebral di-turb'ttiie we may never know. II .v its dynamic:, are disarranged, and their haimony destroyed, is beyond our power to discover. We know the conditions iv Cfiiuin -xtreinc eases, but no intcrpenetra-

lion, or instrument ul physician or surgeon, cai phicj v dil-i-tiiig linger upon the delicate harp-string which is slackened or iivir>trained to pw.dueu the sj.iritual aud mental .H-C'id."

i-'roin this ,Valleiist<ick went on and related several remarkable cases of cure which h.-id ■ onn- under his own observation ;

and his final deduction was, that where titer- was no organic disease cf the brain, or ol it-dependents, an escape from insanity was ii; t in--o-si;.!- in any case.

'- I shall see y;itir mother," he added,

'• vial if I cannot resioio her sen.se. I may oiler some hints that will conduce to her cimfoit. When will vi.n go to New l'orkr"

" At any time when it will convenient to you "

" Then let us say to-moirow. We will meet at the station of the Boston and Providence Railroad."' This suited Arthur, and the arrangement being thus ur.dersti.oci, tho visitors shoitly afterwards took their leave. On their return to Boston, Mr. Jacobs and Arthur took dinner together, and when they finally separated it was with warm and heartfelt exchange of good wishes, the latter promising' that ho would report us soon as possible. The remainder of tho day our hero spent with Oapt. Walpolo, and in the evening he vii-ired Mr. Andrew Piixon, senior partn-r of tho Boston branch of the house of which Mr. Periot was the bead. On the following day—Thursday—he and Mark perfected the arrangements lor their trip, and having drawn as much money as he thought he would need, ho repaired to the railway station, where he net Dr. Wallenstoek.

The trip to New York was pleasant and profitable to both, and even Murk found much that interested him in the conversation of the Swiss physician. Bright and early on Friday morning they landed in the great metropolis, ami having obtained breakfast, they turned their thoughts to the asylum. Arthur had thought that they had better see one of the commissioners, but Wallcnstock said there wis no need.

" I am acquainted with the superindent of the asylum you havo designated," ho said, " aud if the patient is honorably held we shall have no trouble ; and furthermore, when I assure him that the charge of said patient must very soon be vested in yourself, he will be anxious to please you."

Shortly afterwards they called a coach, and the three proceeded on their way towards the upper part of the island. They had left the city behind them, and were approaching the section which Mark had pointed out as the location of tho institution they sought, when a cry of jirr ' arose upon the air, and presently an exclamation of the driver startled them"

" Where is it:" asked Arthur, putting his he-lid out at the window. "I think it's the iuad-lioti.se, sir !" " Ca.T you see it.':" "Vis, sir. Tlie smoke is pouring out from the roof. It's tho mad-house, sure enough." " In Heaven's name, drive on with all speed ! Don't span: horseflesh now. I will pay the bill. Drive I drive !" Aye, it was the asylum on tire, and as our friends came nearei they saw tho black smoke, with forked tongues of iliiine, rolling up from one of tho wooden wings of the building.

On that Friday morning a workman had come to solder up- .some crack* and breaks in the leaden valleys of the roof. Li the northern wing was a wide, low, unused

garret, or if used, used only as a stow-hole for empty boxes and old trunks, with a bidder leading to a skylight, and thence to the roof. In this garret the workman set his little tire-pot, or hand-furnace, with its lire of well-lighted charcoal, there to heat his soldering-irons. He had been at work an hour or more, and had just left his furnace with a hot iron, and gone upon tho roof, when one of the sprites of the institution, a girl, shock-headed aud idiotic, generally supposed to be entirely harmless, who had" been watching operations from tho head of the stairs, stole forward for more critical examination. Two irons were in the fire, and these she attempted to withdraw, and in the attempt she overturned the furnace, and when the saw the blazing coals crackling and smoking upon the dry floor, she glid-d away like a cat that lias been up to mischief.

The workman on the rcof was Hie first to discover the fire. He saw the smoke curling up through the open skylight, and directly the flames came leaping through. He slid to tho ground by a lightning-rod, aud sounded the alarm." The hands in the kitchen caught and echoed the cry, which soon reached the ears of the superintendent. This superintendent v.-as a .strong, coolheaded man, and he bestirred himself without betraying the least bit of excitement. He first ascertained Ihe locality of the fire, find then organised and directed his forces. The utterly imbecile and idiotic—those unable to care for themselves —were to ho removed by fore-, while those who would only want the way of escape opened to them wc-iv to be warned and set free. JTO JIK CONTINUE!.. |