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Page 93
"Some weeks ago Mr. Blessington came down to me in, as
it seemed to me, a state of considerable agitation.
He spoke of some burglary which, he said, had been
committed in the West End, and he appeared, I
remember, to be quite unnecessarily excited about it,
declaring that a day should not pass before we should
add stronger bolts to our windows and doors. For a
week he continued to be in a peculiar state of
restlessness, peering continually out of the windows,
and ceasing to take the short walk which had usually
been the prelude to his dinner. From his manner it
struck me that he was in mortal dread of something or
somebody, but when I questioned him upon the point he
became so offensive that I was compelled to drop the
subject. Gradually, as time passed, his fears
appeared to die away, and he had renewed his former
habits, when a fresh event reduced him to the pitiable
state of prostration in which he now lies.
"What happened was this. Two days ago I received the
letter which I now read to you. Neither address nor
date is attached to it.
"'A Russian nobleman who is now resident in England,'
it runs, 'would be glad to avail himself of the
professional assistance of Dr. Percy Trevelyan. He
has been for some years a victim to cataleptic
attacks, on which, as is well known, Dr. Trevelyan is
an authority. He proposes to call at about quarter
past six to-morrow evening, if Dr. Trevelyan will make
it convenient to be at home.'
"This letter interested me deeply, because the chief
difficulty in the study of catalepsy is the rareness
of the disease. You may believe, then, that I was in
my consulting-room when, at the appointed hour, the
page showed in the patient.
"He was an elderly man, thin, demure, and
commonplace--by no means the conception one forms of
a Russian nobleman. I was much more struck by the
appearance of his companion. This was a tall young
man, surprisingly handsome, with a dark, fierce face,
and the limbs and chest of a Hercules. He had his
hand under the other's arm as they entered, and helped
him to a chair with a tenderness which one would
hardly have expected from his appearance.
"'You will excuse my coming in, doctor,' said he to
me, speaking English with a slight lisp. 'This is my
father, and his health is a matter of the most
overwhelming importance to me.'
"I was touched by this filial anxiety. 'You would,
perhaps, care to remain during the consultation?' said
I.
"'Not for the world,' he cried with a gesture of
horror. 'It is more painful to me than I can express.
If I were to see my father in one of these dreadful
seizures I am convinced that I should never survive
it. My own nervous system is an exceptionally
sensitive one. With your permission, I will remain in
the waiting-room while you go into my father's case.'
"To this, of course, I assented, and the young man
withdrew. The patient and I then plunged into a
discussion of his case, of which I took exhaustive
notes. He was not remarkable for intelligence, and
his answers were frequently obscure, which I
attributed to his limited acquaintance with our
language. Suddenly, however, as I sat writing, he
ceased to give any answer at all to my inquiries, and
on my turning towards him I was shocked to see that he
was sitting bolt upright in his chair, staring at me
with a perfectly blank and rigid face. He was again
in the grip of his mysterious malady.
"My first feeling, as I have just said, was one of
pity and horror. My second, I fear, was rather one of
professional satisfaction. I made notes of my
patient's pulse and temperature, tested the rigidity
of his muscles, and examined his reflexes. There was
nothing markedly abnormal in any of these conditions,
which harmonized with my former experiences. I had
obtained good results in such cases by the inhalation
of nitrite of amyl, and the present seemed an
admirable opportunity of testing its virtues. The
bottle was downstairs in my laboratory, so leaving my
patient seated in his chair, I ran down to get it.
There was some little delay in finding it--five
minutes, let us say--and then I returned. Imagine my
amazement to find the room empty and the patient gone.
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