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Story of the vanishing patient. There
had always been strange stories about the house,

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but it was a sensible, comfortable
sort of a neighborhood, and people

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took pains to say to one another
that there was nothing in these tales,

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of course, not absolutely nothing.
How could there be. It was a

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matter of common remark, however,
that considering the amount of money the Nethertons

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had spent on the place, it
was curious they lived there so little.

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They were nearly always away up north
in the summer and down south in the

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winter, and over to Paris or
London now and then, and when they

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did come home it was only to
entertain a number of guests from the city.

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The place was either plunged in gloom
or gayety. The old gardener,

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who kept house by himself in the
cottage at the back of the yard,

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had things much his own way.
By far the greater part of the time.

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Doctor Block and his wife lived next
door to the Nethertons, and he

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and his wife, who were so
absurd as to be very happy in each

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other's company, had the benefit of
the beautiful yard. They walked their mornings

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when the leaves were silvered with dew, and evenings they sat beside the lily

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pond and listened for the whipper will. The doctor's wife moved her room over

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to that side of the house which
commanded a view of the yard, and

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thus made the honeysuckles and law and
clematis, and all the masses of tossing

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greenery her own. Sitting there day
after day with her sewing, she speculated

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about the mystery which hung impalpably yet
undeniably over the house. It happened one

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night when she and her husband had
gone to their room and were congratulating themselves

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on the fact that he had no
very sick patience and was likely to enjoy

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a good night's rest, that a
rain came at the door. If it's

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anyone wanting you to leave home,
warned his wife. You must tell them

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you are all worn out. You've
been disturbed every night this week, and

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it's too much. The young physician
went downstairs. At the door stood a

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man whom he had never seen before. My wife is lying very ill next

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door, said the stranger, so
ill that I fear she will not live

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till morning. Will you please come
to her at once? Next door,

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cried the physician. I didn't know
the nether tons were home, Please,

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hasten, begged the man. I
must go back to her. Follow as

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quickly as you can. The doctor
went back upstairs to complete his toilette.

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How absurd, protested his wife when
she heard the story. There is no

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one at the nethertons. I sit
where I can see the front door,

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and no one can enter without my
knowing it. And I have been sewing

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by the window all day. If
there were any one in the house,

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the gardener would have the porch lantern
lighted. It is some plot. Someone

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has designs on you. You must
not go, but he went. As

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he left the room, his wife
placed a revolver in his pocket. The

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great porch of the mansion was dark, but the physician made out that the

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door was open, and he entered. A feeble light came from the bronze

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lamp at the turn of the stairs, and by it he found his way

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his feet. Seeing king noiselessly in
the rich carpets. At the head of

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the stairs, the man met him. The doctor thought himself a tall man,

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but the stranger topped him by half
a head. He motioned the physician

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to follow him, and the two
went down the hall to the front room.

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The place was flushed with a rose
colored glow from several lamps. On

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a silken couch in the midst of
pillows lay a woman dying with consumption.

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She was like a lily white,
shapely, graceful, with feeble yet charming

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movements. She looked at the doctor, pealingly, then seen in his eyes

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the involuntary verdict that her hour was
at hand. She turned toward her companion

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with a glance of anguish. Doctor
Block asked a few questions, The man

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answered them, the woman remaining silent. The physician administered something stimulating and then

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wrote a prescription, which he placed
on the mantel shelf the drug stores.

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Close to night, he said,
and I fear the druggist has gone home.

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You can have the prescription filled the
first thing in the morning, and

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I will be over before breakfast.
After that, there was no reason why

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he should not have gone home,
yet oddly enough he preferred to stay.

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Nor was it profession or anxiety that
prompted this delay. He longed to watch

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those mysterious persons, who, almost
oblivious of his presence, were speaking their

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mortal farewells in their glances, which
were impassioned and of unutterable sadness. He

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sat as if fascinated. He watched
the glitter of rings on the woman's long

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white hands. He noted the waving
of light hair about her temples. He

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observed the details of her gown of
soft white silk, which fell about her

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in voluminous folds. Now and then
the man gave her of the stimulant which

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the doctor had provided. Sometimes he
bathed her face with water. Once he

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paced the floor for a moment,
till a motion of her hand quieted him.

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After a time, feeling that it
would be more sensible and considerate of

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him to leave, the doctor made
his way home. His wife awake,

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impatient to hear of his experiences.
She listened to his tail in silence,

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and when he had finished, she
turned her face to the wall and made

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no comment. You seem to be
ill, my dear, he said,

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you have a chill. You are
shivering. I have no chill, she

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replied sharply, but I well.
You may leave the light burning. The

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next morning, before breakfast, the
doctor crossed the dewy sward to the Netherton

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house. The front door was locked, and no one answered to his repeated

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ringings. The old gardener chanced to
be cutting the grass near at hand,

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and he came running up. What's
your ringin that door bell for? Doctor,

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said he. The folks ain't come
home yet. There ain't nobody there.

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Yes, there's Jim. I was
called here last night a man came

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for me to attend his wife.
They must both have fallen asleep that the

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bell is not answered. I wouldn't
be surprised to find her dead. As

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a matter of fact, she was
a desperately sick woman. Perhaps she is

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dead and something has happened to him. You have the key to the door,

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Jim, let me in. But
the the old man was shaking in

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every limb and refused to do as
he was bid. Don't you never go

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in there, doctor, whispered he
with chattering teeth. Don't you go for

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to tend no one? You just
come tell me when you sent for that

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way. No, I ain't goin
in, doctor, Nohow, it ain't

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part of my duties to go in. That's been stipulated by mister Netherton.

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It's my business to look after the
garden. Argument was useless. Doctor Block

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took the bunch of keys from the
old man's pocket and himself unlocked the front

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door and entered. He mounted the
steps and made his way to the upper

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room. There was no evidence of
occupancy. The place was silent, and

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so far as living creature went,
vacant. The dust lay over everything.

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It covered the delicate damask of the
sofa where he had seen the dying woman.

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It rested on the pillows. The
place smelled musty and evil, as

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if it had not been used for
a long time. The lamps of the

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room held not a drop of oil. But on the mantel shelf was the

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prescription which the doctor had written the
night before. He read it, folded

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it, and put it in his
pocket. As he locked the outside door.

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The old gardener came running to him. Don't you never go up there

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again? Will Yer, he pleaded, Not unless you see all the Netherlands

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home, and I come for you
myself. You won't, doctor, No,

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said the doctor. When he told
his wife, she kissed him and

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said, next time, when I
told you to stay at home, you

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must stay. End of Story of
the Vanishing Patient by Elia Wilkinson Peaty