FOREWARNED FOREARMED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2130, 20 December 1894, Page 10

FOREWARNED FOREARMED.

(Specially written for tlie Witness Christmas

dumber of IS94J

By J. S.

A peculiar incident which happened to myself somo years ago has occurred to my mind at intervals, and always with that feeliDg of chagrin which the unexplainable gives to a practical and logical mind. I was myself only a disinterested spectator in the little drama except where I acted professionally, and can therefore offer jio hypothefiis by way of explanation of the mystical element which it contains.

I am a madical man, and my specialty was and is diseases of the heart and nervous system. I was young then, and wiEhing Boon to be in a position to marry I established myself in a small suburb of Melbourne which was rapidly growing into a populous and fashionable resort, and promised a lucrative living. I had been settled here some months, and my practice had largely increased. My house was situaLed near — almost next door to— a pretty little Catholic Church, which had only lately been built. Contrary, I believe, to custom only one priest resided at the presbytery, which adjoined the church.

Father Helroyd and I being near neighbours soon became very intimate with each other, though I was not of his communion. He was an Englishman, and of a shrewd, practical, candid nature; of 'a cultivated mind and without prejudices. One fine Bpring morning, on my return from a stroll before breakfast, I was surprised to find him waiting anxiously for me in the surgery. He looked perturbed and very much agitated. He asked me if I would go with him at once to examine a young man, one of his parishioners, who had reason to believe his heart was affected, as both his parents had died from heart disease. 1 assented, of course, and Father Helroyd resumed :

" It is an unusual hour to summon you to a case of this kicd, but if you will let me explain as we walk alocg the mysterious and peculiar necessity there ie for instant attention to this case, I believe you will understand why I am bo urgent. I think," he began, as we left the house " I think you know the man. It is Mr Ladislas Moscha, the young Polish artist"

" Who ie to be married to-day by you ? " I iutennpted, suiprisad.

"Trie same," replied Father Helroyd gravely.

I smiled, thinking ths responsibility of becoming a husband must have made the young Pole un'luly anxious abaul his health. Living iv the s true f trnet as mj self, I knew Mr Mo-c'.m wil. llb wp.s nn3'tni<"g bu* a sickly-io )ki';g man. Infevj 1, hi w.a-- upright; and stalwart, though slightly below t.be middle height. His face, which w^s extrem&ly liaudsnme, bore au expres&ion of great rectitude, blended with sensitiveness. I had nevar heard him make any mention of his heart being weak. He was an artist, and had also, I heard, a private competency. He bad only been makiog a temporary stay in cur part of the world, when he fell in love tvith all the

p.ission of a Pole with a lady in a well-to-do family, who were, like himself, pious and sincere Catholics. This young lady, Agatha Farney by name, bore a character which was, according to general report, most estimable, awd bad been bo distinguished by the purity and holiness of her life as to give her parents and friends an idea that she would enter a convent and become a nun. She had always coldJy repulsed Mr Moacha's advances, until about three months previously, when on his return from a loug vifslt, somewhere out of Melbourne, she had suddenly rewarded bis constancy by becom- v icg eDgaßed to him, aud after this bhort courtship they were to be married that very morning. All this I knew, but the priest recapitulated most of it as we went along. Then he proceeded to tell me of the following extraordinary affair :

II This morning," said he-" not two hours ago— l was told that a lady wished to speak to me. She was an elderly lady, with a fino and striking face, wbich impressed itself on my memory. She begged of me to go at onoe and administer the sacrament of extrome unction to a person in imminent danger of death, giving me at the same time the address, but not the name, of the dying person. 1 prepared at once, and went without delay. Tiie thought crossed my miud that it wr3 Rtrango I should be called upon to celebrate a marriage and administer tbe last rites of our Holy Church in the same morning. You will be horrified, doctor, as I am myself, when I tell you that the young man to whom I have given the last sacrament and he whom I mairy at 11 o'clock this day are one and the same person 1 Surprised and startled as we both were when I explained the errand on wbich I had come to this yourg man in the full bloom of health and strength, we could only regard it as the wicked and cruel hoax of some evil person. But chancing to lift my eyes to a framed portrait which hung over the mantelpiece, what was my astonishment to recognise at once the face of the elderly lady who had bidden me haste to a dying man ! 11 1 That lady,' said I— • who is she ? It was she wfyo sent me to you on this solemn errand.'

" ' Impossible ! ' replied Mr Moscba, stnggmng back. ' That is tlve portrait of my leloved mother, who died three years ago .'.'

"'Doctor Langley, I protest to you I am free from belief in supernatural interferences, save such as are verified by chronicles of Holy Church, but so much were Ladi«las Moacha and myself impressed by this mysterious warning apparently from the dead, that I consented to givs and he to receive the holy oils.

" I bogged him to see a doctor, as he told me that his mother, whose memory he venerates and loveo intensely, had died suddenly, and 60 ako had his father. Knowing that you are a specialist in nervous diseases I cc.mc at once to you after administering tho sacTament. Will you let rue kuow if you find any cause for alarm?" added Father Helroyd, as he left me at the gate of the villa occupied by the young artist and his old housekeeper.

I found him of course in a state of nervous depression, natural after the extraordinary occurrences of the morning. I examined him with gioat care, taking note of everything which might help me to form a correct diagnosis of the case. ' I found no organic disease exactly, but I could plainly perceive that his temperament was excessively fiensitive, delicate, and excitable;

Under thefle circumstances I formed the opinion that aay great shock to the nerve centre would, in all probability, occasion fatal results. I inclined to tbe opinion also that tbe shock riiuet come through the feelings or sentiment's, or, as we say, the heart, to cauee death. That ia to say that a phj»ical shock would not affect him, nor would a spasm of fear, as I believed he was courageous Bnd gallant. My opinion, which I gave him with slight reservations from what I have stated, appeared to soothe aed satisfy him. I sent out for a composing draught, which I waited to see him swallow, and which acted upon his sensitive temperament wonderfully.

I left him, quite restored to happiness apparently, and went to pay my morning round of calle on my patients, first calling on the priest, whom I found preparing himself for the marriege ceremony, to tell him there was no cause for alarm in Mr Moscha's condition.

It was nearly 12 o'clock when I turned into the street where I lived, and I was just in time to have a look at the weddiug party as it emerged from the chuich. He came, radiant with joy, his bride on his arm. I took a searching look at her, and there was something I did not like in her pale, demure, saintly face. She was oeitainly beautiful, but there was a sly, repelling air about her which contrasted straagely with the fervent, worehipping glances of the young Pole. In that one ecrutiny I made up my mind that she was not the kind of wifo to suit Ladislas Moscha, with bis sensitive, delicate, almost feminine organism, physical and moral. More, I felt sure that she did not know what love was for him, her devoted husband, and in spite of her saintly look and austere pallor, I could read ,the dominion of evil passions in her countenance. " She is not the wife for that man," was my thought as the bridal carriage moved off.

Next day when I opened the newspaper my eye was caught by a lengthy telegram from a pretty country town where many bridal couples went for their honeymoon. It was there that Ladislas Moscha had taken his wife.

To say that I was horror- struck as I read on to find his name in thi? telegram, and to learn that the happy young bridegroom had been found lying dead in the baloony of the hotel at which they had prepared to stay for the night, would convey a poor impression of my feelings. The telegram siid the unfortunate man had been found lying depd Vy his wife, woo wus now prostrated with grief. Heart disease w?>s gupporcd ro be the cause of death, and it was stated that an inquiry would be held the next day. Father Helroyd and myself, much agitated at this terrible denouement following on the strange circumstances of the wedding day, went to bs present at the inquiry. The local doctor's verdict was, of course, heart disease. What elaa could it be 1 But i wondered what had cau.-.ecl the shock.

The wife was excused attendance, but a housemaid was interrogated, as she was found with the bride beside the body, and her evidence was a Btrange revelation. The girl, who appeared to be telling the truth, said : " The landlady, Mrs Ring, sent me to Mr Moscba's room about 8 o'clock last night to ask if anything was wanted. There was a bßlcosy outside the room, and a flight of steps led from this balcony into tbe garden. Before going upstairs I saw Mr Moscha walking by himself in the garden, near the steps. I went upstairs and into the bedroom. There was no one there, and the gas was turned down. I could hear Mrs Moscba speaking in a very low voioe on the balcony. I thought it was peculiar that Mr Mosoha had got upstairs as quick as I did, and I didn't like to intennpt tham. I couldn't hear what thoy were saying till I suddenly heard a man say quite loudly, • You'are mine, Agatha, after all, then. 1 Then Mrs Moscha's voice replied, • Love the man ? No 1 But I was desperate — I thought you had deserted me ; but I will leave Mo'-cha this instant if you ask me ' Then she broke off and screamed, and I heavd a heavy fall on the balcony. I rushed out, and it was Mr Moecha, who seemed to have just come up the step?. Another gentleman was there, standing near Mrs MoEcha. He was staying at the hotel, and his window optwed on the balcony as well as tboirs. Mr Moscha was lying at the head of the stairs, and Mr 3 Moscba and the gentleman were about 30ft away. He said something to Mrs Mosscha in a whisper and went away. Mrs Moscha thought her husband had only fainted at first."

This tale, pregnant with information as to how her husband met his doath, was kept from appaaring in tbe newspapers. Mrs Mopcha and the man rofused to say anything but that they were old acquaintances aud had been conversing together when her husband had tun quickly upstairs and then fallen as he was found. But the truth of the girl's story as to the words she hud heard was evident. Poor fellow 1 he had found the object of bis worship but a soiled dove evidently, and the discovery bad ( broken his heart as effectually as if a bullet had gone through It.

The tragic story was foon forgotten after poor Moscha's buriul, which Father Helroyd isnd myself stayed to attend. I had let slip from my memory in the latter tragic incident the strange story of Ifatber Helroyd. " Thank God 1 " I beard him murmur to himself as we turned away from the gvavo when all was over, "he died at peace with bis Maker, and foitified by all the rites of Holy Church." This brought back to my mind tbe story of what had happened on the wedding morn, which, after macy efforts to explain, the priest and I agreed not to discuss. The question, unanswered, drops to the ground.

These events happened some years ago. The wife of the unfortunate young gentleman did not return to the suburb, and her family quitted it in deep grief. I was in London in the early part of last year, and I saw driving in one of the parks a lady and gentleman, tbe former of whom I immediately recognised as Mrs Mosoha. The gentleman was apparently her husband, and, I suppose, the same lover who had met her at the hotel. I recollected at oace the face of Agatha Farney, though ifcs characteristics of purity and saiutliness had vanished. Tnrough the indulgence of the senses a cold and senßtial egotism reigned there instead of that spiritual purity which had captivated — as tha discovery of its foulness had broken —the heart of Ladislas Moscha.