The Mesmeric Lady.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11, 11 September 1912, Page 52

The Mesmeric Lady.

By

FLORENCE WARDEN.

ALLOA. J {rough ion. ycm are a kwcll ’ ” cried Dr. Webley, on? 1 I Sunday afternoon at Scar- / borough, in the middle of Augusi, as Ik* came face to face with an old fcluw-stiident of his at one cd* Die big l/»ndmi hospitals. “A change for the better, eh ? M chuckled Dr. Broughton, a good looking young fellow of two or throe and thirty, as lie stepped out of a smart motor-car which was standing in front of one of the best hotels and shook hands with his ohl friend. When they last met, three years before, Broughton, unable to aflord to buy a practiie, had been pr.ictieii.lly filar sing in Loudon. \ ‘-Awfully glad, old chap. How did it come about ?’’ asked Webley. I —married,” explained Broughton, 'With a satisfied smile. “Oil, 1 see. Married money ? ” Broughton smiled still more and nodded. ‘’And what are you doing ?” ‘ Oh,” replied Dr. Webley, “ I’m taking a practice up in Lancashire. Big popu' lation It ought to be all right.” Dr. Broughton shook his head. doTi’t KTIOW vivtv-r, s’-J “ Thoiie teeminj; millions Are no gO »d to a doctor. They go to quacks, io whom Diev pav sixpence for a hottie of coloured Water and a bread pill. Come and dine ■with us this evening. I want to introduce you to my wife.” But Dr. Webley excused himself, knowing that ‘‘money,” whoa you have marTied it> has a habit of growing exceedingly unattractive. r J’his meeting and this warning went Bight out of his mind until, having taken Up the Lancashire practice and found it Very disappointing, ho was (suddenly re hninded of Broughton’s words when, as Hie crossed the market-place one autumn iovoning, he found himself wedged in (middle of an excited crowd, all pushing And squeezing to get to a large tent rig god up in a corner, in front of which a brass hand was playing.

lie had already had thrust into Id’ band . a flaring handbill which informed him that the MESMERIC .LADY (in large capitals and fed towed by six notes of exclamation) was in the town for that night only, and would give advice to all sufferers “while under the influence of a mesmeric trance,** Advice only.halfft crown; advice and medicine, five stillings. ]>r. Webley was indignant- Out of curiosity lie went inside the tent with the rest of the .-struggling crowd, and found that the stream waiting for treatment, and all ready with their crowns and half-crowns, vastly exceeded irt number the patients that a whole month brought to avail themselves of his own properlyqualified skill. On a stage at one end of the tent was a large gilt arm-chair, in which a woman, dressed in fantastic Oriental costume, was sitting, with her head buck and her eyes closed. A vulunrinous veil of whit? silk, embroidered in gold, was fastened on her ■head with a. bandeau, from which a barbaric ornament of gold and pearl beads hung down to the middle of her forehead. This silk veil went all over the chair and hung down e,n each side of her head, but did not cover her face or her neck, which, was tiling with gold beads. Over this silk verl ivas one of some shimmering transparent material, which covered her face without concealing it. As far ns one could judge, the woman was young and handsome, and her right hand, which held a glittering pencil,, was while and delicate. At bach end of the stage was a light of wooden stairs, and the stream of “patients” followed each other up the one mid down the other as fast- as they could l»0 dealt with. The procedure was as follows: A hoarse young mall, dressed in shabby red velveteen and spangles, whom Ur, Webiley took to be the husband and accomplice of the Mesmeric Lady, led the deluded victims, one by one, up to the lady's right hand, made him or her sit -in a chair placed for the purpose, lake up one brassmounted end of a speaking-

tube which came through a small hole in the white silk veil, and describe his or tier “symptoms” in ft low voice, which ■was supposed to reach the Mesmeric Lady by means of a brass-mounted bell at the other end of the tube, conspicuously bound to her right ear by gold cords passed round her head and eh in. Each person was warned to lie brief, and on being jogged at the elbow by the man in velveteen as a wanting that time was up, dropped the speaking tube or had it taken away from him, while the Mesmeric Lady, without opening her eyes, scrawled something upon a paper on the little gilt table in front of her. Then the man in red advanced to the

table, wrote, a number on the paper, which be then gave to, the. “patient” in exchange for his money, and directed him to go down by the one staircase while he beckoned to the next sufferer to come up by the other.

When Dr. Webley reached the tent, the five shilling patients were lining treated, and they were to come round to the tent at an hour appointed to receive their medicine on giving their number. To his rage ami disgust, he reckoned up the takings during one liailf-honr, ami found that the amount exceeded five

pounds. Then came a batch of half-crown patients, who brought money in at a late even faster, since each sat no more than a minute, and was not accorded the privilege of having bis pulse felt.

The doctor was amazed at the credulity which allowed these swarms of invalids, real and imaginary, to he satisfied when they got for their hardearned silver nothing but two written lines of advice, with which, however, all appeared perfectly content. At last bis anger got the bettor of his prudence, and lie broke out. to sturdyliKiking Lancashire man of forty or so who stood beside him in the crush, into invectives against the folly of the crowd, fllie inaction of the police, and the ohviouslv fraudulent nature of the whole affair.

“Nay, uav, mister,” said the man, g-s >d-hiiniouredly, “it can’t bo fraud, seein' t’ lady does us good. I’ve been treated myself by her a twelvemonth cooni Christ mas. and no doctor never did me half the good as what- she did. And so. says 1. fraud or no fraud, it’s all one to me, and when there's ought amiss with me I waits till I' lady rooms again to the market-place mid away goes my half-crown.” Hut all his neighbours did not take Hie doctor's expostulations no gondliiiiiiouredly; and when a group Of rough lads recognized him, and tried to shout down his protest against the proceedings, there arose a Jeering chorus around

him, someone knocked his hat off, and he would have stood a chance of some rough handling if the young man in th? red velveteen and spangles had not yelled out a hoarse threat to turn the lights out, and hushed the tumult with promptitude which spoke, of experience. His nearest neighbours, however, still bontinued to gibe at the doctor, though without any renewed attempt at violence, “A fine one to talk of poisons!” cried one lad, in answer to an injudicious remark of Dr. Webley’s about quacks and the -harm they may do in their “I’ll warrant, doctor, you’d like for to poison t' lot of us, for coomin’ to t’ lady instead o' coomin’ to you!”

“And if 'twas poison what t' lady give us. why aren’t we all dead? I’d like for to hear him answer mo that,” said a not her.

The doctor thought it wiser.to say no more, and presently the crowd shifted, and ho found himself surrounded by frosh groups. By and by, braving the gibes of those who might recognize him, lie mounted the platform himself and took his place, in the patients’ chair as one of a five-shilling batch.

Thrusting his hand through the hole in the white silk veil pointed out io hint by the man in red. Dr Webley felt his wrist hold with a grasp which convinced him that, whatever might be the limitations to her medical knowledge, the Mesmeric Lady bad felt enough pulses in her time to know the way to do it.

He proceeded to describe his symptoms through the speaking tube in the followino- manner:—

“I suffer from blood to the head and a violent acceleration of the heart’s action when I see crowds of ignorant and foolish people trusting themselves anct their ailments to unqualified persons, 1 suffer also from an inclination to call in the police to stop what 1 know to be a vulgar and impudent fraud upon the credulous."

Dr. Webley uttered these words tn a low voice, lint with great deliberation, and watched Io sec what effect they would have upon the woman.

To bis surprise and disappointment, IlicrC was n<> change in the bored look of indifference which her handsome face hail worn throughout the evening. A thought struck him, and he gave the tube a jerk, the result of which convinced him that, in spite of th' apparatus so ostentatiously attached I" her right ear, the words uttered at end did not roach hers at all. lie was intensely interested, ami anxious to find out how the thing Win worked. Hut the man Iti rod was looking curious, nnd he now nbrunty cut shou the patient’s sitting, with the intimation ttial tinin was up. He nt the earn# titae

-ave tie dwtor a ratlwr ungentle pash across the stage, an«l. railing ent "NeuflxT si* hundred and thirty nine,” handed him a folded piece of paper and teld him to eaß for his medirine after eleven.

The doctor got down from the stage and opened hie paper. It contained the following words, written in a email, neat hand, and headed with the printed word, "Advice”; —

“Refrain from poking your nose into other people's business and the symptoms will at once subside.”

'Flie doctor hurst out laughing. But the humour of the rogue did not change tiis determination to get to the bottom of the business.

fix the first place, he exerted himself to get held of such of the papers of advice as he could induce the patients round about to let him see. He found that the charlatan’s wit had stood him in good stead, and' as, one after the other, he read instructions which, in the circumstances indicated by the sufferers, were much as he would have given himself, Dr. Webley became convinced that the Mesmeric Lady and her accomplices had, by some means or other, become possessed of the rudiments of a medical education, or at least that they had mastered the contents of a work dealing with a certain number of common ailments.

And it occurred to him us possible that one at least of the confederates, of whom there were probably several, might turn out to be a chemist’s assistant. Hut these farts did not diminish his disgust that these crowds of fools should be ready, under the influence of a brass band and brightly-lighted tent and a little childish mummery, to give their haM-» rmviw and crowns for commonplace advice given in circumstances of uncomfortable publicity and with too much haste to be anything but superficial, when they would not, for an even smaller fee, put themselves into the hands of a highly-qualified man who could examine ami advjse them at leisure. He went out of the tent, and hung about until the clock of the town hall struck the half-hour after eleven, when the man in red shouted that the lady’s trance was over, and that the people must "clear out.” They obeyed like a flock of sheep, the more readily that the man in red velv< bin began to turn the lights out. Ten minutes later those persons whose Slumbered tickets entitled them to medicine were filing in and out of asmallei- tent where a perspiring man in a cloth cap and shirt-eleeves was handing cut bottles, ready corked and labelled, as fast as he could. i he doctor was much interested to know what would be prescribed for nis ailment. And once again his sense of humour almost got the better of his anmiyanee when he had handed out to him. not medicine, but a small bottle of Bass’s bitter ale. Nevertheless he smothered his feelings of hilarity, as before, and waited until the crowd had melted away and the tents were deserted by all but the two men j n charge. Then he sauntered towards the living van, a. brightly-painted affair,, which stood at a short distance from the tents As he approached, taking care to do so under cover of an empty stall, he saw that, a woman was sitting on the steps of the vehicle, and in spite of the fact that she had divested herself of her fantastic finery and was wearing a long rug coat and a close motor-hood, he had no difficulty in recognizing the handsome young woman before him as the Mesmeric Lady of an hour before. lie walked suddenly out of the shadow into the light cast by the little lamp that hung outside the carriage, and the woman uttered a scream. "Don’t be alarmed, pray, madam,” said Dr. Webley, in a dry tone. “You are, I believe, the lady who prescribes for patients suffering from all kinds of ailments; and, as I am a medical man myself, I shall be glad if you will give me, in. confidence. of course, some details us to your qualifications.” The woman, who was looking very tired, stared helplessly into his face. “I don’t know anything about it,” slm “aid, hurriedly. “There’s some mistake, J don’t know what you mean.” "Then I’m afraid 1 must put it more plainly than I like to <lo in speaking to a lady,” said the doctor, instinctively assuming a less aggressive tone when he noticed that her voice was perfectly relined, and that she glanced at him with the shy, helpless perplexity of il great baby. “You pretend to prescribe for ailments, and juu use such strong

remedies aa »ux vemiea in your medicines. Such tilings cannot lawfully or safely bo done by unqualified persons.” “Ob, I’m qualified—l’m qualified,” said elie, hurriedly. “I’m afraid you would have a difficulty in showing me your iljplomas, madam,” said Dr. Webley. “No; I know more than this. 1 know that you are a mere cipher, a dummy, in this fraudulent business. The tube which is attached to your ear brings no record of symptons to you. The tube has two working ends, one into which the patient speaks, ami the other which leads, not to you ear, but to someone else’s. It is to that someone else, the prime mover in this fraud on the public, that I wish to speak.” The woman hesitated, stammered, turned very red, and burst into tears. Dr. Webley felt very uncomfortable but he was determined to find out the principal of the infamous business, and to warn him as to the consequences of persisting in his dangerous career. He murmured some apologetic words, and then the woman suddenly looked up on hearing a mini's rapid footsteps approaching. Dr. Webley turned, but even before he did so he heard a muttered exclamation, and the other man, with a smothered ejaculation, took to his heels. “Hi!” cried the doctor, as he lied in pursuit.

Across the marketplace they ran, down one street, up another, into the churchyard and out again. At last the man pursued stumbled and fell, and in an instant the doctor was upon him. Tor a minute the other tried to hide bis fave. Then realising -that he was beaten, be suddenly looked up, and the amazed Dr. Webley recognised the handsome features of Wilfred Broughton, M.D. Lond. “<2ood heavens!” ejaculated Webley. “What.are you doing here? Surely you. don’t mean that you— —” Broughton was on his feet, brushing the mad off his clothes. “That I—am making a hundred a week by unprofessional conduct, Instead of starving in respectability? Yes, that’s the ease,” said he, coolly. “You must give it up,” said Webley, sternly. “And starve again? Not me!” said lie. IDr. Webley’s auger flashed up within him at this contented degradation. “Then I must expose you,” said he, sternly. 'The other turned to him quickly. “For heaven’s sake, don’t do that,” he said, earnestly. “I do .no harm. My wife is only the figure-head, as you guessed. I hear the complaints, prescribe, make up the medicines. She scrawls—nothing on one paper, and my red velveteen assistant substitutes another paper, on which I have written the advice. I hide behind her chair, and it’s I who feel the .patient’s pulse.” “I know that. It’s a disgraceful business. I must put an end to it.” “For mercy’s sake, don’t!” Broughton’s tone was tremulous with feeling. But the other stood firm. “I musit. I owe it to the profession. I shall report you to the Medical Council.” Broughton’s agonised countenance grew clear in a moment. “Oh, you van do that, and welcome,” said he, contentedly. “If you report mo to the Medical Council for unprofessional conduct my pinblie will never hear of it, and it will do me no harm. But lor 'Heaven’s sake don't expose me to my public as a qualified medical practitioner. My receipts would go down to zero to-morrow, and even the brass band end the red velveteen and spangles wouldn't save mo. For the sake of my wife, i-ome, Webley, be merciful. You go ami cure all the wise folk your way, and leave me the fools. The game’s a better one than yours, tbou-'h it’s beneath yon to play it.” Dr. Webley allowed himself to l.c persuaded, and retreated—thoughtfully.