Speaker 1: A mysterious case by Anna Catherine Greene. It was a
Speaker 1: mystery to me, but not to the other doctors. They took,
Speaker 1: as was natural, the worst possible view of the matter,
Speaker 1: and accepted the only solution which the facts seemed to warrant.
Speaker 1: But they are men, and I am a woman. Besides,
Speaker 1: I knew the nurse well, and I could not believe
Speaker 1: her capable of wilful deceit, much less of the heinous
Speaker 1: crime which deceit in this case involved. So to me
Speaker 1: the affair was a mystery. The facts were these. My patient,
Speaker 1: a young typewriter, seemingly without friends or enemies, lay in
Speaker 1: a small room of a boarding house, afflicted with a
Speaker 1: painful but not dangerous malady. Though she was comparatively helpless,
Speaker 1: her vital organs were strong, and we never had a
Speaker 1: moment's uneasiness concerning her till one morning when we found
Speaker 1: her in an almost dying condition from having taken as
Speaker 1: we quickly discovered a dose of poison instead of the
Speaker 1: soothing mixture which had been left for her with the
Speaker 1: nurse poison, and no one, not even herself or the nurse,
Speaker 1: could explain how the same got into her room, much
Speaker 1: less into her medicine, And when I came to study
Speaker 1: the situation, I found myself as much at a loss
Speaker 1: as they, owing to the fact that there neither was,
Speaker 1: nor ever had been a drop of it in my possession.
Speaker 1: The mixture then was pure when it left my hand,
Speaker 1: and according to the nurse whom, as I have said,
Speaker 1: I implicitly believe it went into the glass pure. And
Speaker 1: yet when two hours later, without her having left the
Speaker 1: room or anybody coming into it, she found occasion to
Speaker 1: administer the draft, poison was in the cup, and the
Speaker 1: patient was only saved from death by the most immediate
Speaker 1: and energetic measures, not only on her part, but on
Speaker 1: that of doctor Holmes, who, in her haste and perturbation
Speaker 1: she had called in from the adjacent house. The patient, young, innocent,
Speaker 1: unform fortunate, but of a strangely courageous disposition, betrayed nothing
Speaker 1: but the utmost surprise at the perils she had so
Speaker 1: narrowly escaped. When doctor Holmes intimated that perhaps she had
Speaker 1: been tired of suffering and had herself found means of
Speaker 1: putting the deadly drug into her medicine, she opened her
Speaker 1: great gray eyes with such a look of childlike surprise
Speaker 1: and reproach that he blushed and murmured some sort of
Speaker 1: apology poison myself, she cried, when you promise me that
Speaker 1: I shall get well. You do not know what a
Speaker 1: horror I have of dying in debt, or you would
Speaker 1: never say that. This was some time after the critical
Speaker 1: moment had passed, and there were in the room Missus Dayton,
Speaker 1: the landlady, Doctor Holmes, the nurse, and myself. At the
Speaker 1: utterance of these words, we all felt ashamed and cast
Speaker 1: looks of increased interest at the poor girl. She was
Speaker 1: very lovely, though without means, and to all appearance without friends,
Speaker 1: she possessed in great degree the charm of winsomeness, and
Speaker 1: not even her many sufferings nor the indignation under which
Speaker 1: she was then laboring, could quite rob her countenance of
Speaker 1: that tender and confiding expression which so often redeems the
Speaker 1: plainest face and makes beauty doubly attractive. Doctor Holmes does
Speaker 1: not know you. I hasten to say I do, and
Speaker 1: utterly repel for you any such insinuation. In return, will
Speaker 1: you tell me if there is any one in the
Speaker 1: world whom you can call your enemy. Though the chief
Speaker 1: mystery is how so deadly and unusual a poison could
Speaker 1: have gotten into a clean glass without the knowledge of
Speaker 1: yourself or the nurse. Still, it might not be amiss
Speaker 1: to know if there is any one here or elsewhere, who,
Speaker 1: for any reason might desire your death. The surprise and
Speaker 1: the childlike eyes increased, rather than diminished. I don't know
Speaker 1: what to say, she murmured. I am so insignificant and
Speaker 1: feeble a per person that it seems absurd for me
Speaker 1: to talk of having an enemy. Besides, I have none.
Speaker 1: On the contrary, everyone seems to love me more than
Speaker 1: I deserve. Haven't you noticed it, missus Dayton. The landlady
Speaker 1: smiled and stroked the sick girl's hand. Indeed, she replied,
Speaker 1: I have noticed that people love you, but I have
Speaker 1: never thought it was more than you deserved. You are
Speaker 1: a dear little thing, addie. And thus she knew, and
Speaker 1: I knew that the every one mentioned by the poor
Speaker 1: girl meant ourselves and possibly her unknown employer. We were
Speaker 1: none the less touched by her words. The more we
Speaker 1: study the mystery, the deeper and less explainable did it become.
Speaker 1: And indeed, I doubt if we should ever have got
Speaker 1: to the bottom of it, if there had not presently
Speaker 1: occurred in my patient, a repetition of the same dangerous symptoms,
Speaker 1: followed by the same discovery of poison in the glass,
Speaker 1: and the same failure on the part of herself and
Speaker 1: nurse to account for it. I was aroused from my
Speaker 1: bed at midnight to attend her, And as I entered
Speaker 1: her room and met her beseeching eyes looking upon me
Speaker 1: from the very shadow of death, I made a vow
Speaker 1: that I would never cease my efforts until I had
Speaker 1: penetrated the secret of what certainly looked like a persistent
Speaker 1: attempt upon this poor girl's life. I went about the
Speaker 1: matter deliberately. As soon as I could leave her side,
Speaker 1: I drew the nurse into a corner and again questioned her.
Speaker 1: The answers were the same as before. Addie had shown
Speaker 1: distress as soon as she had swallowed her usual quantity
Speaker 1: of medicine, and in a few minutes more was in
Speaker 1: a perilous condition. Did you hand the glass yourself to Addie?
Speaker 1: I did. Where did you take it from from the
Speaker 1: place where you left it the little stand on the
Speaker 1: farther side of the bed. And do you mean to
Speaker 1: say that you had not touched it since I prepared it.
Speaker 1: I do, ma'am, And that no one else has been
Speaker 1: in the room, No one, ma'am. I look did her intently.
Speaker 1: I trusted her. But the best of us are but mortal.
Speaker 1: Can you assure me that you have not been asleep
Speaker 1: during this time? Look at this letter I have been writing,
Speaker 1: she returned. It is eight pages long, and it was
Speaker 1: not begun when you left us at ten o'clock. I
Speaker 1: shook my head and fell into a deep reverie. How
Speaker 1: was that matter to be elucidated? And how was my
Speaker 1: patient to be saved? Another draft of this deadly poison,
Speaker 1: and no power on earth could resuscitate her? What should
Speaker 1: I do? And with what weapons should I combat? A
Speaker 1: danger at once so subtle and so deadly. Reflection brought
Speaker 1: no decision, and I left the room at last determined
Speaker 1: upon but one point, and that was the immediate removal
Speaker 1: of my patient. But before I had left the house,
Speaker 1: I changed my mind even on this point. Removal of
Speaker 1: the patient meant safety to her, perhaps, but not the
Speaker 1: explanation of her mysterious poisoning. I would change the position
Speaker 1: of her bed, and I would even set a watch
Speaker 1: over her and the nurse, but I would not take
Speaker 1: her out of the house, not yet. And what had
Speaker 1: produced this change in my plans the look of a
Speaker 1: woman whom I met on the stairs. I did not
Speaker 1: know her, but when I encountered her glance, I felt
Speaker 1: that there was some connection between us, and I was
Speaker 1: not at all surprised to hear her ask, and how
Speaker 1: is miss Wilcox to day? Miss Wilcox is very low?
Speaker 1: I returned. The least neglect, the least shocked to her nerves,
Speaker 1: would be sufficient to make all my efforts useless. Otherwise
Speaker 1: she will it well. I nodded. I had exaggerated the
Speaker 1: condition of the sufferer, but some secret instinct compelled me
Speaker 1: to do so. The look which passed over the woman's
Speaker 1: face satisfied me that I had done well. And though
Speaker 1: I left the house, it was with the intention of
Speaker 1: speedily returning and making inquiries into the woman's character and
Speaker 1: position in the household. I learned little or nothing. That
Speaker 1: she occupied a good room and paid for it regularly
Speaker 1: seemed to be sufficient to satisfy missus Dayton. Her name,
Speaker 1: which proved to be Lauroue, showed her to be French,
Speaker 1: and her promptly paid ten dollars a week, showed her
Speaker 1: to be respectable. What more could any hard working landlady require?
Speaker 1: But I was distrustful. Her face, though handsome, possessed an eager,
Speaker 1: ferocious look which I could not forget. And the slight
Speaker 1: gesture with which she had passed me at the close
Speaker 1: of the short conversation I had given before, had a
Speaker 1: suggestion of triumph in it, which seemed to contain whole
Speaker 1: volumes of secret and mysterious hate. I went into missus
Speaker 1: Wilcox's room, very thoughtful, I am going. But here the
Speaker 1: nurse held up her hand. Hark, she whispered. She had
Speaker 1: just set the clock and was listening to it, striking.
Speaker 1: I did, hark, but not to the clock. Whose step
Speaker 1: is that? I asked, after she had left the clock
Speaker 1: and sat down. Oh, someone in the next room. The
Speaker 1: walls here are very thin, only boards in places. I
Speaker 1: did not complete what I had begun to say. If
Speaker 1: I could hear steps through the partition, then could our
Speaker 1: neighbors hear us talk? And what I had determined upon
Speaker 1: must be kept secret from all outsiders. I drew a
Speaker 1: sheet of paper toward me and wrote, I shall stay
Speaker 1: here to night. Something tells me that in doing this,
Speaker 1: I shall solve this mystery. But I must appear to go,
Speaker 1: take my instructions as usual, and bid me good night.
Speaker 1: Lock the door after me, but with a turn of
Speaker 1: the key, instantly unlock it again. I shall go downstairs,
Speaker 1: see that my carriage drives away, and quietly return. On
Speaker 1: my re entrance, I shall expect to find Miss Wilcox
Speaker 1: on the couch with the screen drawn up around it,
Speaker 1: you in the big chair, and the light lowered. What
Speaker 1: I do thereafter need not concern you. Pretend to go
Speaker 1: to sleep. The nurse nodded and immediately entered upon the
Speaker 1: program I had planned. I prepared the medicine as usual,
Speaker 1: placed it in its usual glass, and made that glass
Speaker 1: where it had always been, set on a little table
Speaker 1: at the farther side of the bed. Then I said
Speaker 1: good night and passed hurriedly out. I was fortunate enough
Speaker 1: to meet no one going or coming. I regained the room,
Speaker 1: pushed open the door, and, finding everything in order, proceeded
Speaker 1: at once to the bed, upon which, after taking off
Speaker 1: my hat and cloak and carefully concealing them, I lay
Speaker 1: down and deftly covered myself up. My idea was this that,
Speaker 1: by some mesmeric influence of which she was ignorant, the
Speaker 1: nurse had been forced to either poison the glass herself
Speaker 1: or open the door for another to do it. If
Speaker 1: this were so, she or the other person would be
Speaker 1: obliged to pass around the foot of the bed in
Speaker 1: order to reach the glass, and I should be sure
Speaker 1: to see it, for I did not pretend to sleep.
Speaker 1: By the low light enough could be discerned for safe
Speaker 1: movement about the room, and not enough to make apparent
Speaker 1: the change which had been made in the occupant of
Speaker 1: the bed. I waited with indescribable anxiety, and more than
Speaker 1: once fancied I heard steps, if not a feverish breathing,
Speaker 1: close to my bed head, But no one appeared, and
Speaker 1: the nurse in her big chair did not move. At last,
Speaker 1: I grew weary, and fearful of losing control over my eyelids.
Speaker 1: I fixed my gaze upon the glass, as if in
Speaker 1: so doing I could find a talisman to keep me awake. When,
Speaker 1: Great God, what was it? I saw a hand, a
Speaker 1: creeping hand, coming from nowhere and joined to nothing, closing
Speaker 1: about that glass and drawing it slowly away till it disappeared.
Speaker 1: Entirely from before my eyes. I gasped. I could not
Speaker 1: help it, but I did not stir. For now I
Speaker 1: knew I was asleep and dreaming, But no, I pinched
Speaker 1: myself under the clothes, and find that I am very
Speaker 1: wide awake, indeed. And then look, look, the glass is returning.
Speaker 1: The hand, a woman's hand is slowly setting it back
Speaker 1: in its place, And with a bound I had that
Speaker 1: hand in my grasp. It is a living hand, and
Speaker 1: it is very warm and strong and fierce. And the
Speaker 1: glasses fallen and lies shattered between us. And a double
Speaker 1: cry is heard, one from behind the partition, through an
Speaker 1: opening in which this hand had been thrust, and one
Speaker 1: from the nurse, who has jumped to her feet, and
Speaker 1: is even now assisting me in holding the struggling member,
Speaker 1: upon which I have managed to scratch a tell tale
Speaker 1: mark with a piece of the fallen glass. At sight
Speaker 1: of the iron like grip which this latter lays upon
Speaker 1: the intruding member, I at once released my own grasp
Speaker 1: hold on I cried, and leaping from the bed, I
Speaker 1: hastened first to my patient, whom I carefully reassured, and
Speaker 1: then into the hall, where I found the landlady, running
Speaker 1: to see what was the matter. I have found the wretch,
Speaker 1: I cried, and drawing her after me, hurried about to
Speaker 1: the other side of the partition, where I found a closet,
Speaker 1: and in it the woman I had met on the stairs,
Speaker 1: but glaring now like a tiger in her rage, menace,
Speaker 1: and fear. That woman was my humble, little patience, bitter
Speaker 1: unknown enemy, enamored of a man who, unwisely perhaps had
Speaker 1: expressed in her hearing his admiration for the pretty typewriter.
Speaker 1: She had conceived the idea that he intended to marry
Speaker 1: the latter, and, vowing vengeance, had taken up her abode
Speaker 1: in the same house with the innocent girl. Where had
Speaker 1: it not been for the fortunate circumstance of my meeting
Speaker 1: her on the stairs, she would certainly have carried out
Speaker 1: her scheme, a vile and secret murder. The poison she
Speaker 1: had bought in another city, and the hole in the
Speaker 1: partition she had herself cut. This had been done at
Speaker 1: first for the purpose of observation, she having detected, in
Speaker 1: passing by Miss Wilcox's open door, that a banner of
Speaker 1: painted silk hung over that portion of the wall in
Speaker 1: such a way as to hide any aperture which might
Speaker 1: have been made there. Afterward, when Miss Wilcox fell sick,
Speaker 1: and she discovered, by short glimpses through her loophole that
Speaker 1: the glass of medicine was placed on a table just
Speaker 1: under this banner, could not resist the temptation to enlarge
Speaker 1: the hall, to assize sufficient to admit the pushing aside
Speaker 1: of the banner, and the reaching through of her murderous hand.
Speaker 1: Why she did not put poison enough in the glass
Speaker 1: to kill Miss Wilcox at once I have never discovered.
Speaker 1: Probably she feared detection, that, by doing as she did,
Speaker 1: she brought about the very event she had endeavored to avert.
Speaker 1: Is the most pleasing part of the tale. When the
Speaker 1: gentleman of whom I have spoken learned of the wicked
Speaker 1: attempt which had been made upon Miss Wilcox's life, his
Speaker 1: heart took pity upon her, and a marriage ensued, which
Speaker 1: I have every reason to believe is a happy one.
Speaker 1: This concludes the reading of a Mysterious Case by Anna
Speaker 1: Catherine Greene.